Penelope
by prettylittlehead22
Summary: She appeared to be ordinary, in everyone's eyes but her own. Through her weaknesses they saw only sympathy for the girl with all the problems. No one really saw her for the person she really was, that was until she barged into the lives of a certain detective and his loyal blogger. Classic 221c situation of course. WARNING: smut later on so...
1. Penelope

Long ago, well not that long ago actually. There used to be a little girl who would sneak out of bed every night. Unlike most little girls- who'd probably only sneak out of bed to play with her dolls in secret or sneak downstairs to watch Telly - she would tip toe past her mother and daddy's room; careful not to wake them up of course. Then cracking open the window at the end of the hallway, she'd climb out and scurry up the pipe to the roof. To simply look up at the stars.

The simplicity of the act brought to her an emotion she couldn't place. An emotion she could only ever feel when she was up on the roof.

When she was up there, and the moon was full or sometimes when it would rain and she'd develop a sniff she felt oddly...normal. As if her world wasn't so confusing anymore.

Penelope, or Penny to her mother and daddy you see was not like other girls. Sure she was the average height and weight for a 7 year old, had perfectly normal curly black hair which framed her light brown skin perfectly and went to ballet every Saturday. Just believe me when I say.

That nothing about Penelope Sharpe was or would ever be normal.

At just the age of five Penelope developed an extreme _emotional detachment_ disorder, it disenabled her to feel any basic human emotion the way normal people should. The disorder would develop further according to the doctors if not treated correctly.

 **5**

At such a young age there was only so much her parents could think of doing to help their childs problems. So they decided therapy would be the best option. Before she knew it she was seeing a strange woman everyday after school.

The woman had beautiful blonde hair which came just past her shoulders, a round face to which she would cake in makeup and tacky red lipstick, patronising blue eyes and Penny disliked her. Rather strongly.

When they'd sit and talk about her day the woman would look at her in a way which read. ' _I personally don't give a shit'_ and after Penny answered her in what she made sure was yes and no answers, the woman; Vicki.

Smiled and told her to go play with the toys while she went outside to _go play with hers._

Which actually meant the woman was outside talking to her boyfriend Trevor on the phone and destroying her lungs with the toxic drug Penny identified as a cigarette.

She didn't tell her mum about Vicki's habits of course. for if she did Vicki said she'd tell her parents she was damaged and for some reason Penny didn't like the sound of that.

"I won't tell."Penny promised.

 **11**

She really never did. Six years passed since her diagnosis;now being 11 she'd definitely worsened. Her mood was all over the place- it got even worse when she was diagnosed with damaged canals in her ears and was told without hearing aids she wouldn't be able to hear anything clearly by her Otolaryngologist. In the next months she was erratic, She'd either care about something with a ferocity her parents couldn't take or would shut her self away from feelings completely which her parents couldn't take either. Her life was like a constant roller coaster, with bends and sharp turns no one expected.

"Penny, please come out of there." her mother gently knocked on the door holding the girls pills.

"NO! What part of it don't you understand! N-O spells No!" The sound of the lamp being thrown across the room and at the door caused the woman to jump back in fear.

"Penny p-please, your father is very unwell and he d-doesn't need this right now." Her mothers voice cracked every so often betraying her calm posture, this wasn't the first time Penelope had acted out against the house when she felt an emotion she couldn't handle.

"Then go tend to him mother!" Penny spat stopping her rampage to address the annoyance beyond her door.

"Then when you've finished pretending to care you can go and fuck off with my ballet teacher, oh wait sorry no you've finished with him haven't you, must be the guy from that yoga class you've been taking!" The girls exposing rant caused the woman to gasp in horror. Without a second thought she reacted.

"How on earth did you know all that!" She demanded then listened to the menacing chuckling from inside the room, awaiting an answer.

"Oh please, what else could make _you_ of all people bother to slap on a bit of makeup and wear those tight yoga pants which shows off your flabby butt for all the unfortunate to see! Tell me _mother_ are white men not enough for you anymore? Or is it that you have a special spot for the Latinos?" Penelope's mother decided enough was enough. Opening the doors she dodged the book which had been flung at her head and ignored the protest from her child, slapping her sharply across the cheek.

Penelope had her head kept in the position her mother had put it in. Without a noise she raised her small hand to her ear and touched it gingerly, the nuisance had hit her right on the blasted thing. When she felt the pain from the touch, her anger fell from her completely replaced with a numbing feeling.

"Penelope I'm so-so sorry my darling I'm so-" said girl pushed her way out of her mothers arms softly, ignoring her apology.

"You can get out now." Her response was so cold it earned a hesitant reaction from her mother. "Daddies awake." Then without another word the girl shoved her mother out of the room, took her pills then shut the wooden door silently.

Christine Sharpe had experienced something very near to fear that afternoon.

And that fear would stay with her for longer than she'd like to imagine.

 **13**

She stares at him from her space in the church. She's in the front row and her mother is crying whilst watching the man Penelope once knew as her father.

The man is dressed in a black suit and tie, she recongises it as the one he wore on his wedding day. What she doesn't recongise is the expression on his face. He's not smiling like he always does and it makes her feel weird, well weirder than normal.

Her father's lying in a coffin. It's a simple wooden one with flowers decorated around him and it makes the girl smile.

Daddy loved Tulips.

Penelopes eyes meet that of a older lady who is glaring at her smile. Without fuss she drops it, realising that's considered abnormal behaviour, especially when one is at a funeral.

Her daddy died three days ago from a heart attack at the age of 42 and she's smiling at his funeral. Penny felt the sudden urge to fake her emotions but thought better of it when her mother wailed at something the man speaking said. Penny couldn't understand why her mother was crying so much if all she ever did was hurt the man.

All those men she'd slept with had been either known by or close to her daddy and now he's lying in a wooden box while her mother cries next to her.

Penelope decided she hated the world on that day. A fact she'd known for forever but had never truly acknowledged. Penelope knew better now, emotions would get one nowhere. It was better to be cold.

Cold kept one focused.

Images of stars and the moon came to mind when she thought of her cold spots and she had to resist the urge to smile that time.

 **17**

Turns out she should have left home a lot earlier, with her mother finally testing the limitations of her disorder, penelope decided to get the hell out of the crummy flat they'd had to live in for the past few months after her mothers gambling addiction precipitated the loss of her beloved family home.

Her grandmother on her fathers side had decided to welcome her with loving arms, moving all her stuff to the apartment she had in London.

Penelope found this lifestyle more befitting as her grandmother was fortunately doing well financially. To put it into blunted terms her _nanny_ was filthy rich and not a bitch. Plus the fairly old lady treated her as a human being with a few more baggage rather than a robot.

Currently Penny sat down on the floor as her nanny straightened her black curls behind her. They had engaged in conversation sometime ago but had stopped when Penny had decided she didn't have anything to say anymore.

"A girl called me a bitch today at school." Penelope had unexpectedly spoke without encouragement and the grandmother nodded dragging the device over hair, then smiled.

"What did you do about it?"

"I told her the bitch has claws and could cut her pretty little face with them." The comment earned the girl a famous cackle causing her to slightly upturn her lips.

"That sounds like you. Oh dear will I have to see the headteacher about such...behaviour."

"No, thankfully the girl got the message and fucked off with her friends." Nanny nodded approvingly.

"Good sweetheart, you handled that situation very appropriately. Your father would be proud." Penny nodded slowly not sure how to react about the mentioning of her father. Nanny hardly ever did it, so instead she changed the subject.

"How much more to go?" Nanny frowned at the sudden change in topic but soon she went along with the girls decision and started lightly tugging the straightener over the last pieces.

"hmm about 2,000 strands of hair to go and we should be done." She joked loving the fact that Penny scoffed in response.

"Nanny!"

"I'm only pulling your leg dear, your already done. Take a look in the mirror then put on your dress we're going to be late to the dinner reservation if you don't hurry." Penelope rolled her eyes at her nanny's almost warning.

"I still don't understand why I have to meet this new boyfriend of yours, I mean it's not like I'm going to make a good impression on him." The older of the two smiled then stood from her space on the white couch sauntering over to her granddaughter.

"It's because at least one of us has to keep this apartment moderately dirty and seeing as your not bringing any men home, it's going to have to be my job." The girl grimaced staring at her reflection in the mirror above the fireplace.

"Not really my thing, far too emotional." The older woman smiled then pulled out a necklace from a jewellery box she kept above the fire.

"Well are diamonds your thing." Penelope smiled deviously.

"Which one gave you this?"

"His name was Pierre. He was French and _highly_ talented." Both ladies looked at one another then burst out laughing.

"It feels good to find something funny." Penny smiled glancing at her older.

"Yes well, pills will do that to you. I'm just happy your out of that room and not reading that blog. What's it called again?" Nanny clicked her fingers as if the action could boost her memory.

"30 different types of tobacco ash analysis." The woman shook her head and laughed pinching the girls cheeks while giving her the necklace.

"You are the most eccentric person I know sweetheart, never lose that." Penelope gave her a grin that didn't meet her eyes and watched as the woman went off with the excuse of getting ready.

Now, being alone. Penny dropped the smile and glared at the mirror.

Eccentric, she wonders what her nanny meant by that. Clearly another word for weird yes but what did she _mean_ by never lose that. Was it alright to be weird or was it only acceptable when she controlled it.

Seeing no point in becoming fixated in the thought she put the necklace around her neck and put on a smile.

The extra pill she'd managed to smuggle into her bra would help her get through dinner.

 **26**

Smack!

Smack!

Smack!

Penny smacked her head repeatedly as she slumped into her chair.

"Stop doing that Penny dear, you'll give yourself a concussion."

"That wouldn't be so bad actually, are you sure I couldn't have one more?" Penny even made the attempt to give her nanny's boyfriend the puppy dog eyes, to which the man responded with a role of the eyes.

"Oh come on Sebastian, I'd give you one!" He rustled his paper and nodded.

"I don't doubt that for a second dear." Penny groaned.

"Useless!" She screeched and banged her head on the chairs armrest.

"Don't yell at Sebastian Spock. You might just scare him off and stop bamging your head, do you want your hearing to get worse." _Nanny at last_

"Nanny! More pills please!" She smiled smugly when Sebastian looked at her only to frown again when Nanny denied her request.

"What do you mean no!"

"You've already had three today love, that's your limit." Nanny reminded but the girls frown only turned more vex.

"Who's idea was that!" she exclaimed exasperated.

"Yours!" The couple simultaneously reminded her. Penny rolled her eyes.

"Right."

"Look spock you know I love having you here, but when are you going to go off into your own space. I would have thought by now you'd want to explore the world and settle down away from your old Nanny." The girls brows furrowed.

"Why would I want to do that? I like it here." The couple before Penelope gave each other a secret look and it was Sebastian who spoke next.

"We just want what's best for you sweetheart, plus me and your Nanny were thinking of going to the Netherlands to live."

"For how long, you're not getting married are you?" The girl questions puzzled and completely clueless to what the adults implied.

"Actually Penny, we want to go live there permanently." Boom! bombshell dropped, the gears in Penelope's head started turning.

"You want to go to the Netherlands together without me." Her reaction of course was clipped and she barely moved a brow.

"Well yes but-" Penelope kindly cut her Nanny off.

"It's alright Nanny, you've done all you can for me, I'm fine with your decision I hope you two are highly successful when it comes to the new environment."

"Really!" Penny gave her an obvious look.

"Of course I'll need some financial aid until I can become stable on my own I'm afraid."

"Oh dear of course, I'm giving you a small fortune to survive off until you get to your feet." She drew the girl In for a hug. "I'll miss you loads hun!"

"Yeah, yeah. Alright that's enough." Nanny got off of her apologetically.

Hugs made Penny uncomfortable as she couldn't quite yet understand how they were remotely important.

"Shall we go and pack Sebby?" Nanny grinned suggestively and Penny scoffed leaving the room immediately.

Where the hell was she gonna find a place to live in London that she actually liked. With people she _actually liked!_

Penelope, alone, surrounded by, strangers. The thought made her grimace.

NO.

SHE COULD DO THIS!

Right?


	2. 221c

"No! No! No! Hmm maybe, oh wait No!"

"What's gotten your panties in a twist?" Penelope turned, confused to who the hell was in her rented room. Upon looking down to the frowning man's attire she seemingly remembered last night; sighing at its crude intimacy. Her hearing aids were turned down low and she adjusted them as he spoke.

"You're still here, thought you left an hour ago." The man - Tony - smirked at her while reaching down to kiss her shoulder lightly.

"Couldn't leave somebody as cute as you behind now could I." Her body turned rigid and immediately her uninterested visage was shown, bored with his presence.

"No I guess not." The words were muttered distractedly as she scrolled down, tapping the laptop's scroller like it was an enemy.

"There are no nice places in London at all, ugh it's shameful!" With a slam of her hand against the keys she knocked her head down to the table and sighed.

"Well what about that?"Hearing the question in his voice the girl looked up.

"About what?"

"This." Tony pointed and immediately the girl shot up and clicked on the link he suggested.

"Hmm 221c baker Street, flats being rented out looking for any possible taker. Looks like there's a landlady, apparently there was another flat being rented but it's occupied now." Scrolling down the bio further she saw the name Mrs Hudson and smiled at the phone number.

"Genius." The distracted girl muttered under her breath aiming the compliment at Tony who smiled and tried to kiss the girl.

"No, no, no, no you have to leave. I have a date with destiny!"Getting up to further accentuate her point she kicked his shoes over to him and picked up her phone. Dialing in the number she'd been retracing in her brain since the moment she saw it.

"But i-"

"No you don't need breakfast, cafes not too far from here. Goodbye!"

Slam!

She thanks the God's that's over and done with. Sure sex is needed for her sanity but God the emotional ties to it were so depressing. Instantly she adjusted her earpiece to suit the phones frequency and pressed the call button.

The phones ringing now.

"Hello?" The sounds of a polite voice echoes in her ear and she forces a smile to meet her voice.

"Ah Hello, Mrs Hudson is it?"

"Yes, who's calling?" The woman's voice has become riddled with curiosity now a factor Penny takes advantage of.

"Um well hi I'm Penelope Sharpe, I was actually calling to find out about that empty basement flat you have in your building. Is it still up for grabs?" There was no reply for a short while and Penelope thought the woman had hung up.

"Mrs Hudson?"

"Oh I'm sorry dear, you see I'm actually surprised. Are you sure you want that flat?"

"Very much so. When will it be most convenient for me to move in?" On the other side of the line the landlady of the building frowned puzzled completely with the girl who already wanted to move in.

"You haven't even seen it yet deary, I absolutely won't allow you to rent the place without seeing it." Out of frustration Penelope twitched her nose, only stopping to exhale silently. She had to be nice of course, she was after all talking to an elder. The woman reminded her strangely of nanny. She would never disrespect nanny.

"Very well Mrs Hudson I'll be there within the hour." On her statement she jumped out of the seat she was perched in and went to rummage in her wardrobe. Luckily she managed to find her black platform ankle boots and easily slid them on without falling on her ass; curse you hangovers.

"Um-oh alright I'll be waiting dear, ring the buzzer twice so I know it's you."

"Will do, see you shortly." Penny hung up quickly now realising the small stain she had on the baseball top she wore.

"Hmm, go commando or try find a top? " To think she considered the options for a solid 3 minutes.

"Oh for God sakes!" Efficiently she yanked off the top and dug through the hangers.

"Aha, found you!" The black skater dress she found would do wonders for not only her temperature but also her quite impressive rack. She slid it on and found herself mildly liking the match between it, her black boots and socks.

"Right time to go then." The last thing she did was step over the new mess she had made going to the coat stand. Picking up her grey exaggerated collar coat she slung it on, picking up her keys before shutting the door tightly behind her.

Looks like she was off to baker Street.

 _ **?¿**_ ~ _ **Penelope Sharpe ~¿?**_

From the outside Penelope thought the place was quite... quaint. It was right next to a cafe named _'speedy's sandwich bar and café'._

With a purse of her lips the woman strolled simply to the buzzer. She recalled the buzz twice instruction and did just that. Her phone had buzzed inside her coat pocket causing her to fumble a bit, waiting for it to stop.

It was probably just Nanny anyway, she'd call her back if needs be.

"Oh Hello deary." Instant reaction to the women's friendly voice was a bright and cheery smile, the one she only reserved for people she knew were pure at heart.

"Hi there, Mrs Hudson I presume." Said woman smiled back nicely, she hadn't pictured the girl to be so beautiful, the long straight hair ran down either side of her cheeks and stopped just below her...well you know what's. The smile on the girls face was mesmerising as were her soft brown eyes. She spotted the girls small silver device occupying her ear, which was slightly hidden and smiled with sympathy hidden behind it. Oddly enough Mrs Hudson found herself instantly liking her.

"Oh of course, come in, come in!" Grabbing her hand the lady was surprisingly gentle, it didn't stop the flinch which crossed Penelope's face in a millisecond, she forced herself to calm down. As the landlady shut the door behind them with a smile aimed at her.

"Alright dear, do excuse the noise. The boys are having a domestic again." The girl smiled with a right brow raised at Mrs Hudson clear upset with the situation.

"The boys?" She asked watching Mrs Hudson pop in to 221a and come out producing a key.

"Yes dear the-" Mrs Hudson was suddenly interrupted by a bellow which came up from the stairs behind Penelope. She frowned at the man's booming tone bringing her hand up to touch her ear gingerly at the words he'd yelled.

 _"I need a case!"_

Mrs Hudson tutted then petted Penelope's arm in a friendly reassuring gesture, when the girl reached up to pet the device in her ear.

"I swear those two, you'll have to get used to it, if you do go through with this place of course. Anyway love, let's go take a look shall we?" A quick flash of the pearly whites and Mrs Hudson was beaming at her. Obviously the smile was dropped when the woman turned her back to lead the girl into the flat, but it didn't stop the weird nagging feeling inside of Penelope. It was unusual to think that the old lady had triggered such a reaction out of the girl.

It didn't matter, she'd fix those problems later.

"You're lucky dear, I did a clean up not so long back. So the place should look pretty much all right." Penelope nodded as Mrs Hudson got the door open and lead her through the place.

The walls of course were crumbling nicely, the absent thought of redecorating immediately popped through Penny's head. She would replace the creaky floor boards in the hall with new ones of course. They'd be wooden a fine oak finish will be nice if she painted the two walls black and hung some pictures along them. Not personal pictures of course more like artistic pictures or of puppies and kittens. She held back a snort. God no.

"Now this here is the bedroom, it's quite small but I promise it gets very cosy, especially during the winter." With a quick peek she managed to set a quick plan to what she'd do with this room. The dull green paint which was on the walls currently was boring. She'd personally paint this room and paint the scene of space on the walls. Her favourite stars would be depicted on the ceiling, plus she might even add in some of the ones that glow in the dark. Overall it would all be very personal. She took a picture of the place with her phone.

 _'No one would be allowed in there, it'd be far too revealing'_

After the thought she left the room joining Mrs Hudson again in the hallway.

"The bathrooms here, it needs to be cleaned again I believe, it wouldn't take much to get that mould of the bath and sink. I could lend a hand if you'd like." Smiling Penelope responded kindly to the generous woman.

"Thank you for the offer Mrs Hudson but I'd bring someone in to do that. The whole place in fact it'd only take an afternoon as I'd prefer to move in as soon as possible and get settled." Mrs Hudson looked at the girl with an easy grin.

"You sound very set on this place." Penelope frowned slightly not knowing how to respond, the woman was staring at her almost... Fondly. Only her nanny did that.

"Yes...I am. It's very quaint and exactly what I'm looking for. Plus everywhere else in central London is positively awful." Both women laughed easily and Penny felt settled for a short while before the feeling of cold swept over her.

If she could act, maybe Mrs Hudson was acting as well. Maybe she hated Penelope and was only smiling and laughing with her so she could finally rent the flat to someone. Anxiety fell onto Penelope's shoulders making her feel heavier. She hated her moods, one moment she could feel oddly peaceful then her mind protruded her with doubt.

"Oh dear, let's go down the hall to the final set of rooms." Doing just that Mrs Hudson walked to the end and opened a door, inside was the living room with a door off to its side indicating that was the kitchen. Wallpaper was peeling, carpet rotting, curtains dusty but had oddly enough good lighting. Inside the room she would paint on the wall around the fire place. Flowers she imagined, roses and daisy. Daffodils and... Tulips. Yes she would definitely need to paint a lot of tulips. Put down a new black carpet, one which would hug her feet. The remaining walls would be painted in a warm lilac and she'd get more lace curtains to replace the old ones. Fix the light and add a small chandelier, get a two seater seat add a TV put in an leather arm chair, also had to make sure to get them in grey of course. Oh did she have plans for this place. With a quick look in the kitchen she had decided.

"I'll take it!" she declared making Mrs Hudson jump in surprise; a hand to her chest. "Sorry."

"Oh that's fine dear, in fact it's great!"

"I'll be calling some people to renovate the place, so it's done for tomorrow Saturday. I'll move in my stuff the day after so I should be all settled in about two-three days basically Monday. Work for you?" The old lady's blinked in pleasant surprise.

"Yes, just glad I've finally gotten someone to take interest in this place. It's even better seeing that you're so lovely." Penelope felt her eyes widened a little after Mrs Hudson gave her the... compliment.

She was bad at these, very bad. She never knew how to respond to them, sometimes her disorder caused her to question the motives behind the compliment. Then when she did that she'd get frustrated because she was over thinking it.

"Don't worry dear it was only a compliment." Mrs Hudson smiled in a kind gesture to the girl and then gave her the key.

"I'll also pay the months rent in advance." She guessed it'd be better to do it now so she wouldn't forget.

"Yes that's fine dear." The familiar faint buzz sounded in the distance and Mrs Hudson frowned slightly.

"Excellent then, it was nice meeting you Mrs. H but for now I'll see you Sunday."Both women headed for the main door just as a Mr John Watson appeared at the top of the stairs wanting to get the door. He realised Mrs Hudson waving off a girl who had opened the door and muttered a quick _hello_ to the new 'case' then left.

He hadn't managed to see her face, only the image of her pulling up the hood on her coat and bending over to do the same with the right black and white striped sock which had fallen down her leg. His brow lifted as she bended and respectfully he turned away toward the man who was shutting the door blocking his view of the girl.

Sherlock Holmes, who was aching for a case - and a cigarette - had also seen the girl coming out of the building his frown was mirrored in his eyes. Who was she? He'd never seen her before.

This mystery woman picked up her coats hood and pulled it over her head. Briefly she bent over and lifted up a... white and black stripy sock! back up to her knee. His brow lifted sharply at the action, whoever she was she had no intention of sticking around for much longer.

Her phone obviously must have buzzed in her pocket as she was now retrieving it from her coat.

He couldn't hear what she was saying unfortunately but he did hear the loud whistle she'd conjured from her being.

 _She is used to the city life_ he deduced then went to go get changed out of his comfy robe, with a tinge of excitement. Hopefully he would finally get a good case.

 **?** _ **¿**_ ~ _ **Sherlock Holmes ~¿?**_

"Hi nanny." Penelope was in the comfort of a taxi. Feeling a bit too snug.

"Love, do you have your hearing aid in?" _What a stupid question._

"Why would I call you back if I didn't have my hearing aid in nanny?"

"Oh I don't know, I'm just being a concerned grandparent. Silly me right."The woman sounded offended and Penny immediately fixed that.

"I got a nice place. In central London nanny, small and... Cosy as you normals would put it." Her nanny hummed In acknowledgement but Penelope could tell she wasn't one hundred percent involved in the conversation.

"Are you with Sebastian?" The faint whispering and giggling in the back ground was enough to confirm her suspicions.

"Sorry sweetheart, what were you saying? " A small sigh left her lips as she turned to face the window and watch London as it passed her by. A question answered with another question. _Typical._

"It doesn't matter, why did you call me earlier?" The woman had begun to cackle uncontrollably. Penelope recalled hearing that sound being produced a handful of times before. Sebastian was biting her.

"I-" _giggle_ "I wanted to let you know that I love you sweetheart and the house we bought over here is lovely." Trying to feel happy for her nanny was going to take too much effort so she simply shrugged inwardly.

"Fabulous, hope you have fun." Straight after the comment the girl hung up and called another number on her list.

"Hey! There she is my little ballerina!" The base tones of Kevin's voice were loud and Penelope remembered the hearing aids in time to pull the phone away from her ear.

"Hey Kevin, you still offering me one of those disabled home renovations right? " The man on the other line huffed.

"You're not disabled don't call yourself that." With a roll of her eyes the girl apologises and presses the question once again.

"Yeah I still do things like that. What do you need?"

"Walls done repaired and painted, flooring and carpet put down, new kitchen equipment with light indicators as well (for when I'm cooking without my hearing aids). Also you need to reroute the buzzers ring to multiple lights in every room so I know someone's at the door. Again when my hearing aids aren't in." Briefly the cab drivers eyes met hers and she glared at him until his eyes focused once again on the road.

"Yeah got it, anything else?"

"New bathroom bath and sink and basically everything, I want the floor to be blue tiled. The kitchen floors should be black slate tiles, the wood in the hallway should be oak, real of course and brilliant. I need the door from the living room taken out and new doors preferably wooden for the bedroom and bathroom. Finally I need you to clean the main door, get new locks and repaint it. You get all that kev?"

"Of course, I was writing it all down I'm pretty sure you want me to accomplish this all by tomorrow."

"You'd be correct."

"Alright I'll call some people, but only because it's you!" a triumphant grin stretched across her face and she fiddled with her coats belt.

"Once again you never fail to please me Kevin. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye." she hung up with a small smile on her face, she would never admit it but Kevin had to be one of the few people she enjoyed the presence of.

"We're here luv." The woman forced a tight smile.

"Thank you, here keep the change." Handing him the fair price with a little extra Penelope got out running the rest of the way up to her flat room.

Once inside she threw off her clothes - leaving the socks - slipping Into her furry robe afterwards. Her first duty was to pack, so the boxes which had been crammed into a closet made a reappearance. For the remaining hours of that day she was putting all of her items in boxes.

Only choosing to throw something away when it was either unimportant or just plain stupid. For example, a tiny blue thong was not something she'd be needing, at least not anymore.

She was mature now, she had to stop messing around.

Get her life on track.

It was the big thought running around in her head. The one which had governed it, nawed away at her. Made her feel absolutely useless.

She wiped the sweat from her forehead and sighed. Pills would make those annoying thoughts go away in no time... would help her sleep. And as she lay back on her bed after taking exactly two of the small circle pills, her body began to relax into the soft sheets beneath her. All her worries soon drifted until she was floating amongst peaceful things, drifting into a content full and well needed slumber.

Tomorrow was going to be vaguely interesting.

 **Thank you so much for all the follows on the story, it's nice to see people want to read my work. xx**


	3. Decorating is my area

Apparently Kevin was making fantastic progress. That much was obvious to Penelope as she ventured downstairs to talk to him briefly. Only to be hit on the arm playfully by one of his assistant's - which by the way was totally uncalled for - then scolded and told to go back up stairs.

The current arm which had been hit was being held in her other. Almost in the way one would hold a newborn baby.

Surely it could have been seen as a threatening gesture but the boy was young, couldn't be older than 15. He was most likely just obeying Kevin's orders, an apprentice perhaps?

Plus the expression on his face was absolutely harmless, maybe even considerably cute. If Penelope cared about that sort of thing.

Which she didn't, it was never the looks of a person which attracted her.

It was the challenge.

Like a dog waiting for its owner to return from the shops, she waited patiently. Only realising how ridiculous being restricted from _her_ flat was when Mrs Hudson came out from her own flashing her a bright smile.

"Hello dear, couldn't wait to see you again! How's the flat going then?"

"I would know and inform you if Kevin and his friends would let me in the place. For now all I can tell you is that it's not yet complete." Mrs Hudson characteristically tutted, muttering something most definitely unintelligible about men under her breath. Penelope was apparently familiar with such behaviour because her reaction was to smirk.

"Oh love you must be exhausted out here waiting, come and have some tea with me. We can have a right old gossip, I can tell you about all the sorts we have round here!" The woman was excited. Wait no she was practically ecstatic, it would be rude to say no wouldn't it?

It was like a miny time bomb had exploded in Penelopes head. There was no way she could kindly refuse the womans offer, but the thought of tea a-and GOSSIPING!

Brought too much into her mind, endless chains of possibilities flew around her head in little taunting ways. Some screamed words such as FAKE! LIES! TRAP! directly at her. Those were the ones she could handle but the others, the others were so bad that if an ordinary person were to hear them everyday they'd have gone mad.

Then again who's to say she hadn't.

"You know what, tea would be lovely Mrs Hudson." The woman smiled politely completely unaware of the torment happening behind the new girls brown eyes.

"I have some medication to take I hope you don't mind."

"Oh dear we all have medication we need to take, don't you worry!" The smell of cookies bombarded her the moment she stepped into the flat. A haze of warmth seeped through her skin and it made her tense, she had been so very wrong.

She couldn't do it, the whole place was too cosy, too personal. One might even say intimately intimidating.

For God sakes she hadn't even gotten past the passageway.

"Don't worry about shoes dear I'm not fussed."

"Well I certainly am." It was the honest truth but Mrs H had taken it as a humorous statement. Why had that been funny?

"What?" Her new landlady was all giggles now after the girl enquired just what was so funny.

"Dear, I'm sorry but you remind me of someone so very much, it's quite funny." _reminded her of someone, when had she ever reminded anyone of anyone?_

"A good someone I hope." the old lady had replied with an assuring 'of course' managing to get the girl to ease up slightly. Good, now if she could just get that coat off the girl, maybe they'd start to have a bit of fun.

"I suppose it is rather hot in here." Penelope had mumbled it under her breath and Mrs Hudson not even recalling saying it aloud beamed at her. The girl had started to take off the coat when she spotted a coat hanger in the corner. It was like she was used to listening to people, despite having hearing aids which was something that made Mrs H unusual happy about.

Finally someone who would listen to her!

 _ **?¿~ Mrs Hudson ~¿?**_

Mrs Hudson was brilliant.

Marvellously brilliant and she didn't even know it. How could one woman be cooped up in a flat all day when she was almost unbearably funny.

Yes, Penelope felt numb at the moment and half as concentrative but some of the things her elder was saying. Could only be described as pure gold.

"Mrs Hudson for the life of me I can't figure out why you don't have one of those um, one of those..." Trailing off brought Penny Into a small daze.

"Chatshows!"

"Yes! Yes chatshows, you'd be perfect for one. Who knows you could probably even call it something like keeping up with 221 baker Street!" This revelation caused both Women to chuckle uncontrollably.

"That's sounds bloody awful." a nodded agreement from Mrs Hudson caused the girl to smile.

"Your definitely a delight dear, here have a biscuit."

"Mm thank you," with unusual enthusiasm Penny took the first bite, prevented herself from moaning then took another.

She hadn't had a biscuit like this since her daddy...

Her daddy.

The glass wall of her control over her emotions had been scraped, it hit dead in the centre of her being, at her heart and hurt.

The chewing motions paused as did her smiles. Silently she pondered what was happening to her. Feelings, it wasnt good to be feeling feelings now!

Pills had been taken to control these pesky fuckers and yet here she was experiencing them.

"I-I-i um need to check a message Mrs Hudson excuse me but I believe someone's calling me. Thank you so much for the tea and the chat. I'll be back in a second." Faster than a bullet the coat was put on, the heavy breaths were restricted and she was gone.

Leaving in her wake a very stunned Mrs Hudson. Boy that girl sure reminded her of a certain someone.

So much in fact that it worried her for a second.

 _ **?¿~ John Watson ~¿?**_

It was a lie.

A little white lie.

It couldn't hurt a fly.

Oh her little white lie.

A poem she was very fond of ran through her mind as she ran. Far away from the problems within her mind. Close to home was where she needed to be if she were to feel.

If the feelings were going to come now.

"Penelope what the hell are you doing here it's Sunday!" Penelope was about ready to explode, all over the place, she was scattered needed to **focus.**

"Give me twenty minutes Luna, please."

"I can't Pen, I can't I have a class at 2!" Luna, the woman who owned the acrobatic studio which Penelope frequently visited for the sheer thrill of it. Was always so easy to persuade. Even though she wasn't in the mood for games Penelope realised she'd have to turn on the charm.

"Is that a new leotard." swiftly the subject changed not only it's mood but it's topic as well. It had switched to a harmless sexual nature as Penelope dragged her eyes down the woman's body. Taking in her slightly tanned legs and pink lips. Luna couldn't help but blush at the attention she was getting.

"Uh-huh yes it is, g-got it two days ago." the admirer made a sound of acknowledgement continuing her unmodest stare.

"I like it," this surprised Luna, her Pen never gave compliments unless she really needed something. Plus all this attention she was giving her was certainly out of character. Considering Luna had been trying to get Pen to notice her for months. It was quite hot really to see the way Penelope got right into her personal bubble, so close she could smell the cookie scent which clung to her. Feel her worrying shallow breaths against her chin as the girls eyes peered up from the step beneath her, under those long lashes. "It suits you."

The last of her resolve cracked with those quite husky words.

"Oh for God sakes what do you want?"  
Penelope kissed her gently on the cheek, much to her surprise. Oh well she'll blame it on the pills later.

"Twenty minutes I swear, just twenty on your silks then I'll leave. Its not even two yet; it's half past one, I'll be gone before then!" the whole begging thing was so unlike Penny it made Luna crumble completely.

"Fine but you gotta promise."

"Promising is such a demeaning act," after receiving a soft glare she altered her train of though. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." This option was preferable and although it earned her a harder glare it also was enough to surfice Luna's flare for the dramatics.

Penny had never promised anyone anything before, she wasn't gonna start now. Despite her being desperate.

All the near begging was worth it when she saw the silks hanging from the ceiling.

"Twenty minutes!" Luna reminded her from behind her shoulder but she wouldn't reply. Her sight was set on freedom.

Her coat, boots, socks, leggings, jumper and necklace were all hurriedly taken off her body and left on the floor in a pile. Leaving the girl completely in her pink lace bra and grey lace boxers.

This was followed by a quick stretch of the necessary muscles, so she would be nice and limber for her chosen speciality.

Aerial silk was a passion of hers. The task of transforming dangling from a ceiling into an art form in her eyes was poetic.

So with a slight smile, she relished feeling the rich silk beneath her fingertips and in her hand. Ringing it round her favoured hand and slowly began to ease into her beloved craft.

Watching silently from the other side of the room was a very captured Luna. It was rare she got to see Pen in such a intimate situation, mostly because Penelope disliked doing Aerial when people were watching her.

Seeing her now though with her clothes abandoned and body on display while she was twisting and sculpting her body into different positions to best compliment the turquoise silk. Luna was enraptured, completely with her beauty.

Could you blame her for strolling over to the music speaker, and pausing to turn on her play list which just so happened to be handy in times like this.

Adam lamberts song _If I had you_ blurted out from the system. The girl swore she saw a small smile on her Pen's face.

At least she's not yelling at me. Luna thought but then dropped it as soon as Pen did a move which involved her body being completely supported by her thighs. Her hands extended outwards and she was a sight to behold.

"Keep staring at me." Penelope ordered her like a child.

That girl and her audiences.

"You. Just. Might. Learn. Something." Oh of course. Luna gave her the finger, and muttered an insult under her breath.

"Yeah well if your so great then you should be the teacher not me."

"Don't be ridiculous, I haven't got the patience for such a task."

"Speaking of my task, it's almost 2. If you're done I'm pretty sure I'd like to avoid my students coming in to see you in such a state." Fate would have other plans it seemed as the door to the studio opened and Luna's 'students' began to file in. One after the other.

All froze and watched the almost naked woman, dangling gracefully.

"Too late for that don't you think?" awkwardly Penelope opted for a simple wave; Luna facepalmed.

"Come down and leave." Luna's hissed words made Penelope only slightly nervous, she'd have to make it up to her.

"Alright darling." While Luna tried to figure out what had brought on the pet name Penelope swiftly untangled herself from the silks and fixed her hair on the floor.

"Merci Luna, I appreciate it." Discreetly Penelope made a gesture to the women and men in the room watching their interaction with interest.

"Your welcome, but can you put your clothes on?"

"You sure you want me to?"

Luna swallowed. "Yes!" the blush in her cheeks indicated something else entirely but Penny would let it slide.

Just this once.

Without dropping the fake smile on her face she wriggled back into her clothes.

"See you." Luna closed her eyes as Penelope kissed her on the cheek for the second time that day.

"Bye."

Luna would never truly understand that girl. And she wouldn't have it any other way.

 ** _?¿~ Mycroft Holmes ~¿?_**

The way back to the flat was occupied with thoughts of what Penelope was going to do for a job. Sure she had her money from Nanny but it wasn't going to last forever.

She had to start working but the question was what was she gonna do?

Painting was a craft of hers she was passionate about, but in all truth it was something she only did when she found it enjoyable.

To turn that into a job would blow out the flame for sure.

"What's wrong with the door now!" it was Kevin's voice for sure, no doubt shouting at one of his delinquents.

"Sorry mate, nothing it's fine just had to loosen up the hinges with a little oil. Can't have the squeezing annoying her hearing aids now can we?" Penny nodded approvingly to herself then came into view of her old colleuge.

"Penelope there you are, I was starting to worry about you!" Begrudgingly the addressed girl opened her arms to receive the hug Kevin wanted. (only because it was socially expected) He squeezed the living hell out of her and laughed when Penny huffed at the attention.

"Alright I get it,"

"I know but hugging you is so rare, I just want to treasure the moment." Penelope wasn't going to argue, let alone in front of a curious Mrs Hudson. So she simply waited for the man to stop while doing nothing to attempt to at least act thrilled.

"Ok, I'm done now why didn't you get here earlier?"

"I was here earlier I wanted to check up on things but your new pet wouldn't let me."

"I swear that kid is really grinding my gears today!" His tone was one of annoyance but it was clear he was rather fond of his new intern.

"What's his name?" Penelope asked curious to see Kevin's reaction more than anything else.

"Douglas Matthews." She saw the slight smile on his face and saved it to memory. She'd tease him about it later.

"How far are you on the place? "

"Well my team of 23 have made good progress. We got the door out the walls replastered and painted white for you. Except for the passage which you said this morning you wanted painted black." Penelope nodded signaling she was listening and for him to continue.

"Done the floors, cleaned the fireplace and replaced the frame, I know you didn't ask for it but it's nicer now. The bathroom has been redone it didn't take long, kitchens remodeled we just gotta reconnect the water supply. Your rooms been fitted out with a light which connects directly to the buzzer like you asked, door to the flats been cleaned and repainted. Overall everything's looking sharp." Penelope gave Kevin an appreciative upturn of her lips, then let it fall once more.

"When's the furniture arriving?" She questioned the man.

"After five, Gives a couple hours for the paint to dry, plaster to set and you to get your belongings." Penelope hummed and drew her attention to Mrs Hudson.

"Sorry for the noise, Mrs H." The old lady shook it off with a hand gesture.

"It's fine dear, no harm done. Plus some of these lads are quite flirty." They giggled at the woman's comment and Penelope found herself relaxing finally.

Medication must be settling in.

"Well then, anyone for tea."

After Mrs Hudson had given the crew and Penelope tea, the young artist had decided to go to a hardware store to buy paints she would need for her murals.

She wanted vibrant yet enchanting colours and she went all out to get exactly what she needed.

She had no idea that when she'd eventually get back, the flat would be completed. Her furniture was placed inside and exactly how Penny had envisioned it to look.

There was a note on the new coffee table.

 _Stuff arrived, saw your blueprint sketch about the layout of the furniture._

 _Nice ideas by the way, anyway had another job to do so decided to put your stuff in without you. Call me when you get a chance yeah, love to talk to you more._

 _It's been a while._

 _-Kev_

Penny was very appreciative and as she gave the place a look over she found herself feeling proud.

This was a new start in her life.

She was gonna live it as much as she could.

Despite what her disabilities did to her.

Later on, when she had unpacked her bags full of clothing and gotten herself Into her old pair of dungarees. The night was spent starting the mural in the main room.

Her face was relaxed into a gentle smile as she mapped out the lines with a pencil. Flowers were sketched effortlessly and tulips were drawn with pride.

It was all pleasant until she messed a tulip up and drew it a little different from the others.

Then she had switched and broken down into tears at the thought of not getting it right. She felt as if she had disappointed her father in some strange way.

That night was one of no sleep, when she set her mind to something she was stubbornly invested.

Who knew what the morning would hold.

 **The story's been getting a few follows and has 2 likes which is amazing for its first few days of being up, thank you sooo much. Comment what you think might happen next or what you'd like to see in the story, it's not yet completed so i'd love suggestions. xx**


	4. Meet the neighbours

Her mural was coming along splendidly, along with the flat it would be beautiful when complete. Right now she was making brilliant progress on her schedule.

What she didn't expect was the knock on her door. It took her momentarily by surprise - seeing the lights flashing, signalling someone had rung - and she realised her hearing aids were discarded in her bedroom.

"Coming!" Penelope shouted it over her shoulder and brushed her dungarees down,wiping off some of the paint - or at least trying to - it mostly just caused the purples, pinks and blues to smudge into her hands. It was ignored for now and so was her hearing. Whoever was there she was sure they'd be able to understand, plus she was pretty sure it was just Mrs Hudson and she had a feeling the lady already knew about her disability.

Making her way up to the door,she made sure she threw her pills into her bedroom along the way. Locking the door afterward.

A smile was put on her face as she unlatched the chain and opened the door.

Her smile faltered slightly as she met the eyes of a slightly short man with gelled blonde hair. His blue eyes widened slightly at the sight of her but she didn't drop the smile completely. It took a second before the man was smiling effortlessly at her - succeeding in creating cute wrinkles in the corner of his eyes.

"Hello there." Penelope had waved in response to his words.

"I'm John Watson, Mrs Hudson told me you moved in over the weekend and I just wanted to welcome you." Her lip reading was thankfully on point so she was able to understand him easily.

"Hi John, I'm Penelope Sharpe. Please do come in as you can see I'm currently illustrating, excuse the mess."

She couldn't catch his reply since he'd walked past her but as Penelope shut the door she caught sight of him grinning.

"Would you excuse me for a second? The main room is just there." She left to go into her room, she'd no doubt need both her ITC hearing aids.

When she emerged from her room into the main room, John Watson to her surprise had Instinctively taken his shoes off and put them on the rack. A fact she was grateful for and annoyed as she hadn't mentioned the detail earlier.

John was currently examining her nearly completed painting and Penelope felt uneasy at the attention it was getting.

"When I saw the paint on your clothes, I thought you were painting the walls multicoloured or something; but this, this is brilliant!" The woman furrowed her eyebrows and frowned slightly. Had he just praised her work.

John Watson...liked her painting?

"It's not finished yet," Penelope pointed out in an attempt to remind him.

"Yes, but what you've done so far is brilliant." He turns around and John was surprised to see Penelope completely staring off into space appearing to be, confused.

As if she was somewhat puzzled by his compliment. Time had clearly passed before John cleared his throat.

"Penelope?" The daydream was gone, she blinked sharply back into reality and offered him an explanation.

"Sorry, it's just no one's ever called my work brilliant before." This sounded oddly familiar to John, he just couldn't recall the time he'd heard words like those in the past.

"Well, what do they normally say?"

"Take it off." John frowned.

An insult! What kind of person would insult her when faced with such beauty?

"Well their idiots! Your work is really good, your perfectly talented." Penelope smiled just a bit at yet another compliment.

"Thank you...tea?"

"Yes please, no sugars." Penelope walked into the kitchen and beckoned John to follow her. He takes a seat at the wooden oak table in the kitchen and once the teas done she sits opposite him.

They begin to conversate just like ordinary humans and after John's tea is done he's grateful the talking doesn't stop.

He needed a break after the previous case, hounds! Of all the bloody things in the world.

They both talked about hobbies and soon the conversation drifted into a detailed discussion of the art of understanding the bodies anatomy. John was amazed by how much the girl was able to contribute to his knowledge of muscles and organs.

Soon however, the subject evolved into a man. Sherlock Holmes to be precise.

Penelope found herself curious about the whole consulting detective aspect of things. Never had she heard of using such a term for someone. Or a job.

"So what? You and him fight crime and solve mysteries?" John laughed at her inquiry and slumped back Into the chair feeling at ease.

"I wish it were that simple," Penelope nodded with a faint smile and was going to ask about what they got up to exactly but then John was fumbling around in his pocket for his phone and her attention was back onto the painting outside the kitchen.

"Hello?" John mouthed an apology and Penelope waved him off. Got up then went back to painting in her vibrant colours. She could hear Johns mumblings but didn't care enough to actually listen.

Moments later the man emerged from the kitchen with a small smile on his face.

"Well I should be going, I'll see you soon I hope Penelope."

"Penny, Please call me Penny." The woman frowned almost straight after the request, had she actually just said that?

"Penny, alright I'll catch you later." She nodded then escorted Mr Watson out with the promise of popping by sometime.

Later on Penelope was in the middle of a particularly crap TV show, offering sarcastic comments every now and then, to the characters with awful personalities.

It was in between one of these comments that her hearing aids began to mess around.

"Oh not now! This desperate housewife was about to go crazy!" The devices start to glitch in her ears to the point where it becomes a nuisance.

"Fine," Penelope mutters under her breath and with a huff she got to her feet and padded over to the bathroom. The medical cupboard above the sink was there for the soul purpose of storing her medication and her extra pair of hearing aids.

Except right now, the spare pair weren't there.

"The hell-" A hiss was elicited from gritted teeth as a high pitched ring sounded in her ear. The damaged things were taken out of her ears and she frowned at them when the silence fell.

It was truly deafening.

In a mood she trudged back to main room and slumped into the settee.

The need to hear once more overpowered her sane thoughts, she needed them fixed immediately.

But needed the equipment.

Suddenly, for reasons unknown. The brief thought of John resonated through her mind, it was a weird feeling; but there was really no one else she could think of who could possibly have a screwdriver.

In a split decision she decided he would most likely be the best decision for her, Penelope got out of the comfy sofa's grip and switched off the telly with a frustrated sigh.

Her earpieces were cradled in her hand as she pulled on her green monster slippers and begrudgingly slipped into a pair of shorts from her bedroom, to at least cover for the fact that she- Penelope Sharpe- bore absolutely no modesty whatsoever.

Once she gave her vest a quick scrutiny she shrugged in a non caring gesture. Then exited her flat.

It was dark in the passage way and she cursed herself for not remembering the path as clearly as she should have.

The fact that she was both deaf and blind in this spot brought unease to her and she made sure she was extra cautious ascending the stairs to 221B.

When she got to the floor where a wooden door was nestled into the corner, her hand hovered over the door and she knocked twice; in a way she hoped was gentle and not too loud.

What Penny didn't hear was the annoyed 'John!' being yelled from Sherlocks mouth and said man shuffling in from the kitchen, glaring daggers at the childish man who sat slumped in his armchair with both forefingers pressed to his temples.

John held back his insults to swing open the door, his frown morphed imstantly into a wide smile when he met the deep brown eyes of their new neighbour. His surprise was written clearly on his face, unlike the attraction he felt toward the girl when seeing her in that tight cotton vest without a bra, with those practically sinful shorts which displayed various grafitte symbols.

"Oh Penny. Wasn't expecting to see you so soon." John didn't miss the way the girl stared at his lips throughout his entire statement.

Sherlock did.

"Yes well, sorry to pop in unexpectedly but I was hoping I could obtain a screwdriver from you." John's eyes filled with recognition at the sight of Penelope signing along with everything she was saying.

However Sherlock once again, had missed the display of her ability just as his interest in this mysterious woman peaked.

Drawing himself from his mind Palace he centred his focused onto the woman at the door. One single sweep of his eyes and he'd managed to roughly piece her together.

He raised a brow at the sight of those ghastly beasts on her feet.

They were hideous!

Penelope had noticed the man with the bouncy curls upon his head and assumed he was the mysterious Sherlock Holmes.

To be honest he - in his striped robe which looked rather expensive, white vest and blue and white bottoms - was nothing Penny had been expecting.

His blatant scrutiny made Penelope intrigued if not a bit annoyed.

I mean, she'd put on the **shorts hadn't she!**

What more did she have to cover to be deemed appropriate?

All at once this Sherlock character got up and looked her dead in the eye. His mouth begun to open and close like quickfire, Penelope tried hard to focus on the words he was saying; attempting to put it all together but couldn't do it.

In the end she only succeeded in hearing fragments.

"You... Slept for the... Evident from those horrid things on your... Smell says painter... However say calluses... Ethnic background..." Penelope had to take a step closer to him just to fully strain her ability further.

But it helped nothing.

"Sherlock!" John snapped and the detective looked over to his only friend momentarily stopping the assault of words.

While Penelope - who by the way had not taken her eyes of his lips - stared at him.

"What John, I'm in the middle of deducing here!" The disadvantaged girl smiled slightly, she'd understood what he said in that moment.

"Deducing? Doesn't the person have to be able to hear you for that?" Sherlocks frown made her smirk successfully and she raised her hand and opened her palm to ease his confusion.

The man looked down and inwardly groaned when he saw the small grey items.

"She can't hear you Sherlock!" John announced clearly annoyed at the carelessness his friend had shown. "You git." was muttered afterward.

Sherlock turned his attention back on to the girl who was still staring at his lips. "Lip reading, of course." Penelope nodded and couldn't help the false smile from forming.

"Wanna help me with these or are you gonna stare at me all day?" Sherlock frowned and looked at the things once more.

"What did you need again, Miss?" Penelope ran a hand through the front of her curly brown locks to get them out of her face and Sherlock followed the movement. Only abruptly stopping when he realised just what he was doing.

When since had something so effortless caught _his_ attention.

"Sharpe, and a screwdriver; if John has one." She waited as Sherlock looked her in the eyes once more.

John watched the two just stare at each other for so long that it would definitely not be deemed socially acceptable. It wasn't until Sherlock broke the silence that he remembered he had only met Penelope today!

"Wait here." Sherlock gestured to the armchair opposite the one he had been slumped in earlier then waltzed to his room; the dressing gown fluttering slightly behind him like a cape.

"He's very dramatic." Penelope signed knowing John wouldn't understand anything she was saying but did it anyway.

"So..." When the new girl had taken her seat in John's chair he took to standing opposite her near Sherlocks - not daring to sit in the detectives on behalf of knowing it annoyed him - Penelope looked at his lips once more as he began to speak.

"I know he's a bit dramatic." Penelope chuckled.

"Your boyfriend is very dramatic." Was signed by the girl but the words that left her mouth were...

"I've seen worse." John smiled and so did Penelope, while finding it weird that she didn't feel as uncomfortable as she probably should.

Shortly Sherlock stepped back into the room. He carried a kit of sorts and held out a hand for the devices.

"I'll fix them." He instructed as he towered over her, Penelope handed them over without hesitation yearning to hear again.

Especially now, seeing as she had no idea what Sherlock could possibly sound like.

The detective accepted the things with ease and went to the table by the curtain, it was ransacked with what appeared to be a range of different oddities.

With Sherlock tinkering Penelope let her attention slip from him and on to John.

She signed 'please may I have some tea?' purposely not talking aloud just to see if John would understand her.

John frowned slightly at first before his eyes brightened. "Tea?" He asked catching on swiftly.

Penny nodded.

John hurried to the kitchen and Penelope waited until he was gone to get up and take in a real impression of the place.

She quickly disliked the wallpaper but found the skull on the mantle very out there.

 _I wonder if it's real?_

Her gaze landed on the bookshelf and quickly dismissed it. That she'd leave for another day.

The mirror above the lit fire place portrayed herself as she looked into it briefly, and for once she found herself bothered by her crazy curls which just wouldn't stay put.

Once again she lifted a hand and raked her fingers through the dark tangles.

Very much unaware of the detective who had catalogued this move into a file and stored it away to his memory.

Sherlock frowned as he removed his magnifying slide from the kit he'd produced from the bedroom and shuffled in his seat.

Why had he just saved such irrelevant data?

"Is this real?" Sherlock raised a brow at the slow hand movements he'd managed to catch as she spoke the words.

Now facing her he took extra note of the way she waited for him to respond by attaching her pupils onto his mouth. It was quite an awkward situation to be in.

He'd wondered vaguely if she had even taken in the colour of his eyes.

Ooo an experiment.

"What colour are my eyes?" He'd said it slowly deliberately so she could understand it through lip reading and then quickly shut his eyes so she wouldn't be able to cheat. Penelope flicked her eyes up immediately but was greeted by alabaster covers hiding away Sherlocks oceans.

The thought about the ocean had occurred the moment she saw those pleasant pearls. Practically burning themselves into her retinas.

Suddenly the thought about telling Sherlock this aloud seemed... Odd.

"Oh," He smirked triumphantly his hypothesis has been correct. She didn't know-

"well they're beyond incomprehensible to be honest." Sherlock kept his eyes closed but couldn't help but be confused at the meaning of this.

I mean, they were just eyes!

"Incomprehensible?" The detective repeated the word in a fluid way, it rolled off his tongue as if it were a liquid.

"Well yes, blue? Green? A mixture of the both, your eyes hold more depth than the ocean itself." Sherlock didn't hear any of this, instead he had opened his eyes and watched her sign the words to him.

He felt rather relieved he had chosen to keep sign language tucked away in his mind.

He would have never thought a comment so clichéd could have made him somewhat confused.

John's arrival with the tray with tea and biscuits was a fortunate distraction. It gave Sherlock the chance to answer the girls earlier question.

"Yes it is real." Penelope furrowed her brow briefly as she watched the curly haired man turn away from her and begin to tinker once more.

John who had set the tray down tapped Penny on the shoulder and gave her a smile.

"Teas here,"

"Thank you." She sat on Sherlocks chair this time and John was about to say something about that being a chair no one but the detective sat on, only stopping when he saw that Sherlocks face portrayed none of the usual annoyance and instead one of neutrality.

Over the next few minutes. John and Penelope engaged in a bit of small talk. Centred mostly around the ghastly case of Baskerville.

"Hounds of the mind?" The question was provoked from the girls mouth after watching John's lip explanation of the drug being in the fog.

"Oh yes, turns out that the whole thing was the fault of our clients dead father's beloved 'friend'." Penelope nodded.

"So it wasn't a hound so much as a man trying to cover up his own murder."

"Exactly." John perked up considerably since Penelope had arrived. It was quite a nice change actually, having someone who he could engage in mundane things with.

His attentions turned to Sherlock then who had smiled in triumph when he finished with the girls hearing devices.

Penelope followed his line of vision and was met with a standing Sherlock.

"Oh, you all done then?" Sherlock rolled his eyes.

"Obviously." He was surprised at Penelope's chuckle at his use of attitude.

"Alright cheeky," His left eyebrow rose. _Cheeky?_ "Give em here then." He did so easily and didn't even find the contact her hand made with his as annoying as he'd normally would.

Penelope could have jumped for joy at this moment. Having the weight of both things in her palms erupted butterflies in the base of her stomach.

Without appearing too excited she put them in and waited for her ears to adjust.

"Testing, testing one two three." John beamed at her as Sherlock was still analysing Penelope, fascinated at the process of her putting them in.

He had opened up Penelopes file and put the procedure inside, after that he made a room in his mind Palace just for her.

He'd make it plain for now; fill it in later.

Inside this room were both moments, he resigned from her room and flashed back into reality.

He didn't expect an intrigued Penelope to be standing directly in front of him. Her eyes were a stunning brown and he stored that away quickly.

"Where'd you go?" She asked genuinely awaiting an answer.

"Mind Palace." The detective took note of the girls raised eyebrows; he furrowed his own in thought. Why was she taken aback?

"Why am I not surprised?" The question was whispered and he leaned closer to hear. Or at least that's what he told himself. She smiled as she watched him.

"Why am I not surprised, that the first thing I hear outta that pretty mouth of yours is _mind Palace_?" Sherlock watched her giggle with vague interest.

"Your voice has a much lower tone than I thought, it's entirely dramatic. Just like you!" John was laughing along with the girl and Sherlock couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"It's not that deep." He insisted before hurrying into the kitchen to go check on his earlier experiment; pinky toes.

"Oh please, trust me when I say I know deep, when you have a nanny like mine your whole life becomes deep." Sherlock ignored the implied innuendo and sat back at the kitchen table on his stool.

"How do they feel?" John asked her while making an action with his hand toward his ear.

"Just like new." Then with no hesitation whatsoever she turned and blew a kiss in Sherlocks direction.

"Merci beaucoup Sherlock." Her accent was flawless, so much in fact that it made the addressed man furrow his brows. John however, took this for one of his rude antics and apologised on behalf of the detective.

"He means your welcome, sorry Penelope but he's in one of his moods." Penelope waved him off politely, not really affected at all.

"It's fine, I enjoyed the tea and chat John thank you. But I should really be going it's quite late and I need to finish the last rose on my mural." John smiled at the girl.

"Any time Penelope, and I really do mean that." The girl kissed his cheek took one last look at Sherlock who was invested in his work and sighed.

"Goodbye boys." Those were the last words they heard from her mouth before she left.

Sherlock, not once looking away from his experiment frowned at John.

"Not your type." He stated bluntly, not reacting to John's stubbornness in the slightest.

"I didn't say she was." John assured Sherlock, as his fists came to settle upon his hips. Sherlock didn't even have to answer the man again, only raised a brow in a silent judgement as he glanced up at the shorter man.

"Alright, well I-I'm going to bed because I'm not dealing with-" he made a big gesture at the detective before huffing.

"This." Sherlock removed his goggles finally and ruffled his hair.

"Goodnight John." The detectives voice was monotone, John didn't even bother with a response and instead went to retire upstairs.

The moment Sherlock confirmed that John had gone into his room for real and wasn't lingering he jumped out of the stool he currently occupied and found John's laptop. (Taking a while to relocate it from John's new hiding place)

Last time Sherlock had found some revealing things, that John refused to talk about or even acknowledge.

He planted his butt down onto the sofa and raised his knees up.

The screen illuminated his alabaster features, ocean coloured eyes locked onto the light as he efficiently hacked into John's private thing.

John was partially to blame; having Harriets birthday as his password was far too boring, not to mention predictable.

He opened up Google and typed in the subject annoying his mind.

 _PENELOPE SHARPE_

The search was successful, apparently she was on various websites.

Even the news.

Sherlock clicked on the link immediately, what he hadn't expected was to see the girl in such a position.

Red lipstick marked her lips and Ruby skin jewels were placed strategically from her left eyes corner descending onto her collar bone.

If it weren't for the shocking crimson in which the dress was illustrated to him. Sherlock would've spent his time deducing her facial expression rather than appreciating the flowing material wrapped elegantly around Penelope's curves. The mundane thing had captured his attention surprisingly and Sherlock couldn't remove his eyes from the image.

Finally snapping out of his reverie, he operated his hand and willed it to scroll down.

 **DEAF GIRL REINVENTS MODELLING**

His eyebrows shot up at the title, then he frowned and rolled his eyes.

'how blunt'

Then he began to read the article.

'21 year old, Penelope Sharpe has taken the latest artist scene by storm with her devotion to the arts. Her new take on realistic portrayal has left artists in awe.

 _'she stands there in the same pose for hours and doesn't move until every last person who's been booked to see her has finished their piece.'_ says 17 year old, Elliot Dennis who had the privilege of getting to see the young models crazy methods up close and personal.

Penelope has volunteered to be the muse of the Oval Art program for a total of 2 years now. Every person who's been blown away by her intellectual take on painting, sculpting and more have all seen her in action.

From crazy corsets which tighten to the artists requested perfection- often being suggestive- to fantasy costumes from favourite novels and comics. All cater complex roles of hardcore creators who would be denied privileges from other studios.'

Sherlock stopped scrolling to admire yet another image- this one had the girl in a Gucci suit, the grey patterns mimicked her frame gently. The blazer was unbuttoned; giving the effect of an unformality enhancing the rebellious theme. As did the loose tie, which had purposely been undone and gripped in her right hand for a provocative effect.

His eyes followed her image before settling down onto the caption.

 _"outfit Inspired by photographist Susan Walters, who calls it 'a woman's role' "_

Finding a blue link next to the caption sparked his curiosity, he found himself less interested with the articles and fascinated with the images. The link was a beacon call, it screamed for him to press it.

But would he? Should he? Could he?

Why of course, he was Sherlock Holmes after all.

The first image was tame, a common take on the average superhero. Her hair was big, her waist was small, her cleavage...busty.

He scrolled down immediately after the deduction.

The next image was a sin, in the minds of those who couldn't handle such... eloquence.

Penelope Sharpe was suspended from a ceiling in nothing but her laungerie, silks wrapped protectively around her body in a purple and turquoise blend which hid her caramel-

Sherlock exited the page effective immediately and deleted the history off the database- snapping the laptop shut after the deed was done.

Was he insane?

On an exhale Sherlock got to his feet and hid John's laptop once again.

After it was hidden, he wasted no time thinking back to what he had done and practically marched to his room shutting the door behind him.

Why had she conjured such a reaction from him?

They were just silly photographs.


	5. A real inspector?

"Are you sure your ready for this?" In return to her words the man only smirked.

"Are you?" His pinkish lips turned upward at her grin.

"Your going down biatch." His eyes rolled automatically as she then went on to count down.

"1, 2, 3 GO!" Penelope and Sherlock sat at either ends of the table engaged in a tense staring contest. So tense in fact that when John strolled into the room, he only had to spare one glance to both overgrown children to piece together the situation.

"Guess I'm the only adult in the room." Said 'adult' was promptly ignored by both children who he could only huff at in exasperation. "Fine, ignore me."

Sherlock had taken up John's offer with vigour. Concentrating completely on crushing Penelope at this game which she had so foolishly challenged him with.

 **10 minutes ago**

"John, Sherlock!" Penelope frowned slightly when she saw no one in the sitting room.

Had they gone out?

Her head snapped over to the coat hangar, Sherlock's Belfast was still there.

"Sherlock, you here!" As the brunette neared the kitchen the faint smell of burning caught her senses. Then when she made it past the cloudy mist her ocean eyed detective was made transparent to her.

Wait! _Her ocean eyed detective?_

Blinking away the rest of the mist and that bizarre thought. Penelope stepped over to Sherlock and pouted.

"Couldn't hear me shouting for you?" The monotone hum she got in return was enough to tell Penelope that the Holmes was in a severe state of boredom.

She narrowed her eyes, "Your bored too." Her statement made the man's brow rise.

"Obviously." They simultaneously agreed. One with a teasing tone the other with a faint mockery.

"So," Penelope took the seat opposite him and tapped her fingers on the table for a couple minutes. Then out of the blue asked. "Wanna get beaten at a staring competition?" The request was so disturbingly childish it made Sherlock blink sharply.

Finally, after what seemed like ages he pushed away the metals he was experimenting with and brought his palms to rest down flat on the table.

"Game on." Penelope smiled in relief, asking Sherlock to engage in such a normal thing was risky. Then again she always did like a risk.

 **Present**

"Give up yet Mr Holmes?"

"Nope." He popped his p with ease and Penelope knew that she couldn't possibly win this without turning the odds in her favour.

Stealthily she moved one of her sock covered feet to slide in between the detectives material covered legs. Once it had struck home just below his knee she slowly moved it up and down.

Now Sherlocks initial reaction was to tense up at the girls administrations, that was until he saw the triumphant glow in her brown eyes.

"Clever move Penelope, trying to distract me." Slowly he rose slightly from the stool and leaned forward over the table, he didn't stop moving until his face was inches from Penelope and her wide eyes.

" . ."

Every bone in Penny's body began to burn, her eyes dried suddenly as all playfulness was replaced by a sudden intensity and confusion. Her lips quivered at the proximity of his, her eyes flicked continuously between his oceans and those bow shaped sins and a small lump formed in the base of her throat clamping down a response.

Her senses became invaded almost overwhelmed with Sherlocks scent, the hypnotising smell of posh aftershave and expensive suits drifting in and out on every failed intake of breath. Until she found it all unbearable and on a grin she surrendered.

Sherlock Holmes would win this game

Penelope blinked and Sherlock smirked in triumph.

"You sinful bastard." The hypocrite whispered - scared of using her voice for fear of it breaking - and watched as Sherlock rose to his full height.

"Yes, but you started it." Her tongue pocked out childishly and Sherlock felt the sudden urge to bite it.

 _What?_

Sherlock shook his head inwardly and went into the sitting room where John was currently reading the newspaper.

"Ah John forgot you were here, bring a case?" John sighed, he really felt unappreciated sometimes - and right now was one of those times - plus he didn't even have a case for the man.

"No, unfortunately but I haven't got time to worry about your boredom right now."

"Right, because you have a date this evening." The squeal that came from Penelope was incomprehensible.

"A date!" She came from the kitchen as quick as lightning and plumped herself on the sofa alongside the army doctor. Curiosity bright in those brown pearls.

"With who?" John became immediately flustered at this bombardment. Penelope had come upstairs with those horrible green slippers again, a tight pair of blue skinny jeans and a rather revealing grey midriff top.

"No one you'd know." John didn't crack under the girls hard glare; fixing her with one of his own instead.

"Really?" The conspiring look she gave to Sherlock in that moment wasn't missed by the army doctor.

"Oh no, no deducing!"

"It's no use anyway all I have is that she's works as a bartender and is a crazy cat lover. Her name is Jenny Davis, she's 29 years old, recent divorcé, has a crazy fascination with animals and has a criminal record for the charge of protesting and public violation." John shook his head disbelievingly and Penelope grinned.

"Mycroft's doing?" In return Sherlock shrugged in his usual non committed gesture.

"He may have had a file." Penelope couldn't help but smirk as in her mind she remembered the exact moment she had met the eldest Holmes.

The moment in her memory was quite clear. It'd been about 3 weeks ago when she'd bumped into Sherlock and John while leaving for a jog. The previous night had been filled with drowning her self in classical music and drawing the base sketches for her bedrooms star design. In the midst of all that creativity things got a tad out of hand and she ended up screaming into her pillow and beating it up with her fists. Eventually exhaustion won her 'battle' for her and she drifted off.

Anyway back to bumping into the boys.

"Morning." Sherlock hummed in acknowledgment yet didn't respond with actual words, it'd been about 3 days since the caramel coloured girl had met the boys and whilst John was lovely at all times Sherlock still came across as detached.

Who could blame him though, she wasn't so sociable herself. The only reason she had the guts to do anything relatively normal was because that's what she'd learned was acceptable from Nanny.

People didn't respond well to the truth. They probably never would.

"Morning," The army doctor politely greeted and Penelope was at a loss now.

Should she just leave now or was she obligated to make small talk.

"Skip the small talk and go for your run, it's what you want to do." Her big brown eyes widened at Sherlocks words, it's like he'd known what she'd been thinking.

"How- " She stopped herself short. "Right, your a detective couldn't be hard to deduce things." Plus her turquoise sports vest, black sports bra, black yoga pants, turquoise Nike airs and headphones really were quite obvious.

"I'll be going then, catch you later."

"Watch our for unknown cars." Sherlock had said the comment and dashed up the stairs 2 at a time so quickly that Penelope almost missed it.

"What?" Surely the girl must have heard wrong; bad hearing and all.

John however was quick to intervene.

"He's joking...sort of." Then the army doctor had too shot up the stairs in a blur of some cream jumper and denim jeans.

Penelope gaped in confusion to where they'd just disappeared. It took her several seconds to recompose herself and leave the warmth of 221b.

Once outside the cold air had hit her, running through her tied back hair and down her sleeveless arms.

The sensation felt good and Penelope became at ease, not cold, not emotionally in doubt.

At ease.

She rolled her neck and arm joints slowly, her head lulling and cracking quite pleasantly. Her ballerina skills came in handy as she lifted her legs separately and stretched them out as well. When her body was completely loose the stimulating techno beats started drifting in her ears and she'd found a determination.

There was nothing delicate about the way Penelope ran.

It was an intense calculated process, one which she revelled in. Her feet hit the ground with a pound each time and she always did it in beat with whatever song she played.

Her heartbeat grew stronger with each song and she stopped for no one. The exhilarating feeling had given her a completely good vibe. Evident in her now subtle swaying hips, the way she used the approaching people as an excuse to dodge using spins she'd learnt in those dance classes all those years ago.

Her legs pushed faster as a gentle rock song played, not soon after however she admitted to her growing fatigue and began to lightly jog instead.

Soon strangely a feeling began to over come her, akin to the feeling of being watched. This sensation nagged her for a solid two minutes before she gained the guts to take a quick peek behind her.

A sleek black car, which despite its plainness stuck out like a sore thumb had slyly followed the girl. Instead of panicking like some girls would have in such a situation Penelope smirked and -after she rolled her shoulders - gave the car behind her a challenging gaze as she began to sprint off down the road.

For the 'British Government' sitting in the back seat of the mystery car, it came as a surprise when his target had begun to run.

Obviously this had happened before, but never had one smiled and almost challenged his car.

It was an intimidator not a game!

"Sir, she's doing a runner." Anthea sat opposite her boss, momentarily pausing the movements of her thumbs on her phones keypad. He hummed in response and tightened the grip on his umbrella.

"Follow her."

Penelope ran faster and faster with a new motive; avoid the creepy car. It was pleasantly fun she had to admit it to herself. Having a reason to run- which wasn't her stupid anxieties, depressions, disability and just generally everything else she detested about herself- just had an odd peaceful feeling to it. For a minute it felt like freedom, that was until her body decided she'd completely exerted her energy and forced her to stop.

Stopping out of fatigue the girl took a few stabilising breaths to calm her racing heart.

In those moments the car pulled up on the curb and without looking up Penelope still took in her deep breaths; even when the back window rolled down.

"Miss Sharpe, get in the car please." Penelope held back her confusion for a second. The woman who said it clearly knew who she was.

So why didn't she know who she was?

On a shrug Penelope slid into the car and raised an eyebrow when she came face to face with a man who sat with absolute perfect posture. An umbrella relaxed comfortably on his lap.

"Are you the devil?" It was a silly comment really, she should have thought before she spoke. However she was known to speak her mind in quite a literal sense often.

To her surprise the man cracked a smile that In Penelope's perspective, was entirely wrong. It was as if his lips couldn't quite understand the action so the result became a half smirk half sneer sort of thing.

It wasn't pretty.

It was... Cold.

"Miss Sharpe," he started, the same smile plastered on his face before had now turned sombre. "I can be whatever you want me to be."

Penelope couldn't help but smirk.

Curse her filthy mind!

"But right now," he continued. "You may refer to me as Mycroft." Penelope raised an eyebrow.

"Alright then, _Mycroft._ What was that all about, your way of picking up the ladies huh?" Mycroft arched a perfect brow and sighed.

"If my intention was indeed to 'pick you up'," he spoke the phrase with barely concealed bore. "I doubt I would have done it like this."

"Especially when I already know your name, ." Penelope tilted her head to the side and stared at this man. Directly into his eyes; which somehow looked distractingly... Familiar.

"No way," Mycroft rolls his eyes. "Yes! Oh my god your related to Sherlock, aren't you? Your his father!" The man's eyes sharpened distastefully.

"Brother, There's no point in asking a question if your just gonna answer it yourself." The British Government pointed out.

Penelope sighed in exasperation. "Why is Sherlock's _brother_ driving around and picking up people in his sleek black cars with a mysterious girl who doesn't talk and an unnecessary umbrella?" Mycroft didn't react in the slightest, simply studying the girl momentarily before he began to speak once more.

"As Sherlock's brother it's my duty to keep him out of trouble -despite his protests- that's why I'm going to offer you a great sum of money to watch him when I can't." Penelope was momentarily taken back.

"I'm sorry, come again?" With a faint smile ghosting his lips, Mycroft bargained again.

"Your new to baker street, you've met my brother and his companion John Watson and yet haven't been deterred or showed any sign of wanting to leave... yet." His grip on the Umbrella loosened as he brought his fingers to steeple under his chin. "Now it's your choice of course, just know that either way you'll continue to be monitored, your presence in Baker Street is being heavily considered." Penelope's frown grew with every passing second.

"Nope,not doing it. I'm not spying on your brother for you, and Judging by that rather nice tailored suit your wearing you don't really need me to either." Penelope then instructed the driver to pull the fuck over or she was gonna start screaming.

"Do as she says." Mycroft's agreed and said she one last fair well to him, Penelope got out, scanned her surroundings then made off for baker street.

"Sir, she'll tell Sherlock everything." Anthea reminded him without looking up from her blackberry.

"Yes." Mycroft hummed sitting back a tad as the car drove off once more.

"May have!" yelled the sandy blonde and Penelope blinked away the odd memory. "Try did have and didn't hesitate to give to his younger brother!" John got up from his place on the sofa in frustration and grumbled the whole way up the stairs and to his room.

His door slammed shut.

Leaving Penelope and Sherlock alone.

"I feel bad now," Came the girls whispering tone.

Sherlock knew what this meant, in the past 2 months of knowing the girl he noticed she had some often erratic moods. Like right now her smile had completely gone replaced with a confused grimace.

"He's fine," he assured her. "Just blowing off steam." Once he saw her still unconvinced face he strode down the hall to his bedroom and shut the door behind him.

Penelope thought she'd made Sherlock mad too.

 _He hates you too now._

 _Can't put up with all your baggage._

 _Pathetic really, thinking you could actually consider them your friends._

"I don't have friends!" She hissed under her breath, refusing to listen to the little nagging voices of her doubts.

Quickly she took the pill out of her bra and swallowed it dry.

Stupid emotions.

About 2 minutes later - just as she was relaxing in the low sofa in the main room - the slamming of a bedroom door made her eyes abruptly open.

"Get up," Sherlock had gotten dressed, his white shirt along with his slacks were fitted perfectly and he had that look of determination on his face.

Somehow it surprised the girl. However It also made her want to giggle.

Did this man not own a pair of jeans.

"Why?" She challenged him, not quite ready to leave the comfort of the couch; much to his annoyance.

"We're going out." He didn't wait for her reply only went to the rack and grabbed his coat, swinging it on with absolute ease then opening the door.

He'd said it with such authority that Penelope felt like a child who had to obey her parent.

"Fine." With that whine she dragged her feet past Sherlock and noisily stomped down the stairs.

She jumped down the last two stairs, landing with a thud when she heard Sherlock finally coming down after her.

Instead of leaving out the front door the brunette went to 221c, left the front door wide open and retrieved her coat from the armchair she slung it over. Abandoning her slippers she slipped on her grey fury uggs to match her coat and picked up her xperia.

No texts or calls from Nanny, on a sigh she turned off the lights and went bounding back up the stairs to Sherlock.

Luckily he had realised the fact that she'd not left him to go out alone but had in fact been getting dressed properly.

"Where we going?" She asked the detective who had left out of the front door and stood on the curve waiting for a taxi to come by.

"Scotland Yard, I'm bored." When at last the taxi had pulled up he let her get inside first, noting the way she bent upward slightly and how the action made her rear stick outward.

He saved it to his mind palace, along with the deduction that she'd done squats at the gym the other day.

 _Too irrelevant, what's wrong with me?_

But he didn't delete it.

Sherlock slid in after her and told the cabbie their destination before retreating back into his mind palace. Fingers pressed against his lips the further he delve.

Penelope watched him for only a second before realising he'd gone into the depths of his mind.

Then the girl turned her attention to the world beyond the window and awaited with nerves an adventure with the detective outside of Baker Street.

Sherlock had at first been thinking about things to calm his ever growing boredom, but every time he'd try to sort through his rooms of endless data. He'd always find himself walking past _hers._

 _Penelope Sharpe_

The door read in braille.

His annoyance at not being able to shoo the door away grew every time he'd wander past it; eventually he gave up and strode right in.

Everything remotely Penelope related hit him at once, the room was still plain in a decoration sense but that hadn't bothered him yet. Since he'd added the smell of the room earlier that morning.

Apples, she always smelt like apples.

Now he just needed more data.

Penelope on that first night of meeting her popped up to start with.

Followed by her brushing the strands of curls out of her face.

Then her calling him Cheeky.

Then came Penelope this and Penelope that until the last entry of her became freshly presented.

The sensation of that foot running up his legs became pronounced on the area it targeted.

Mind Sherlock shuddered slightly at the feeling and furrowed his brows afterward.

Why had he been comfortable with that clearly intimate touch?

He'd known people longer than he knew her and still the thought of them touching him in such a way made chills seep up his spine.

Penelope was different somehow, how? He just didn't know.

"Sherlock." There she is again, inviting him in with her warm tone and soft acce-

"Sherlock!" He snapped back into reality as she whined it, boredom had clearly taken her over too.

"What!" He snapped back.

"We're here!" _oh_

"Right then." He practically jumped out and would've forgot to pay the man if Penelope hadn't yelled after him.

 ** _?¿~Greg Lestrade~¿?_**

Penelope didn't think it possible but she was super excited to be in an actual police station without being the person who had done something wrong.

She also wanted to see behind the scenes, was it like one of those TV shows where every cop has there guns on the tables and eats donuts while making sex jokes and slut shaming the only woman in the precinct. Or was it more professional -with handsome cops brooding about that one case that got a person killed and how they'll never go back into the field again.

 _I really need to cut back on all that late night telly._

Penny thought to herself before she was being snapped from her ludicrous daydreams by an impatient Sherlock and a snappy receptionist.

"If I say I have an appointment with Detective Inspector Lestrade, then I have an appointment with Detective Inspector Lestrade!" Sherlock hissed at the woman who only sat in her chair with her rather long fingernails and tightly done bun.

"Sorry Holmes, but your not in the system for today. Come back another time when someone actually wants you here." Then the bitch snorted, actually snorted. As if to say _yeah cause that'll happen._

Penelope had just about had enough and when she saw the very near annoyed look on Sherlocks face a little plan started to formulate. Slowly she made her presence know when she slid into Sherlocks side and bumped him playfully with her side.

"Sweetheart is there a problem? Thought you said... Lestrade was expecting us." Penelope didn't wait for Sherlock to answer and instead sighed and glanced at the receptionist as if she'd only just noticed her.

"Men ey, what can you do? This one always thinks he can flash those cheekbones and get us anywhere." A fake chuckle. "Probably why I love him so much, you can grate cheese on these things." To further annunciate her point she ran her thumb down it briefly.

Sherlock's breath caught in his throat only one other woman had done such a thing to him, the woman hadn't ended well.

Once she was done the same hand then moved down to her stomach; rubbing small circles.

Snapping back Into the facade, Sherlock finally grasped just what Penelope was up to.

He grabbed her hand with his and gave the most fake smile he could muster.

The receptionist watched on in disbelief.

"I promised we'd be able to tell him the news today, I just thought it'd be better to surprise him you know." The girl pretended to smile lovingly at him as he hung his head, embarrassed.

"Your always so sweet, thinking about me and Sherlock Junior first." Carol - the receptionist - had bug eyes now.

Sherlock Junior!

Had the world suddenly got struck by a meteor and exploded?

Or was Sherlock Holmes genuinely going to become a father!

Sherlock who quickly deduced the lady had fell for everything up to this point cranked it up a notch.

"You two are my whole world," His right hand, the one not grasping hers made it's way up to her stomach and covered her left hand. "I'd do anything for you two." Penelope felt the wicked thrill to do something to further test Sherlocks acting skills, she had gotten a strange buzz of excitement seeing a side to Sherlock she'd never seen before.

Looking at the receptionist she shook her head fondly but then she gasped suddenly and turned back to Sherlock.

"I think she heard you, Oh yes she did! Sherlock! She's kicking! Listen listen!" Sherlock knew for a fact that there was no kicking, and if he hadn't been acting he would of raised an eyebrow at the girl. Now however he could only smile in 'delight' as he got down on one knee and put his arms on her awaiting hips. Placing his ear onto the soft material of her coat he pretended to hear something and gasped excitedly.

"There she is," he pretended to be near tears and held Penelope's hand. "My little girl."

"Sherlock Junior?" Carol questioned and Penelope realised what had her confused.

"Sherlock is a girls name." She heard Sherlock mumble from his place below her.

"Wait till Lestrade hears this," a buzz came from the door behind them and the woman behind her desk smiled pleasantly at the both of them; after Sherlock had stood. "Go on you two lovebirds." Penelope was cooing at him now wiping away invisible tears with her thumb. Both still in their roles, they walked to the door and only broke character when they were sure they were out of sight of the cranky bun lady.

Said 'bun lady' had picked up the phone as soon as they'd gone and dialed the detective inspectors office.

"What?" Came the gruff voice from over the line. Carol smirked.

"Your never gonna guess what just happened!" She stated with a wide grin on her face.

She couldn't wait to hear what the office had to say about the face of their boss when this got round.

Penelope broke into hysterical laughter the moment they snapped back to reality.

"That was classic, are all people that easy to fool? Oh god did you see her face, sucking in the information like a parasite. A few googly eyed love heart eyes and she was melting!" Sherlock contained his laughs but didn't hide the small smirk on his lips.

Penelope's giddiness over the situation was infectious.

"Yes, good acting by the way. You had the role of a pregnant woman down perfectly." She flicked her hair out of her face unintentionally and grinned.

"Why thank you Sherlock Holmes, your role of father was quite convincing. Had me in stitches when I got you on one knee, I could barely contain myself!" Sherlock hummed.

"I know the entertainment in your eyes was quite obvious," as they turned a corner Penny caught his mumbled 'last time I listen to a baby kicking' and smiled.

Eventually they reached a white corridor with glass windows, which had actual busy people behind. Penelope had gotten hot from all the laughing and unbuttoned her coat slyly. Sherlocks eyes still caught the action.

She followed the curly haired man as he flung open two double doors and waltzed into some office block as if he owned the place.

Lestrade was already out of his office and pacing up and down - no one dared to ask what he was doing and instead decided to just do their work.

"Lestrade!" Came Sherlocks usual greeting and Greg could have screamed, how could he be so calm about this! Of all things!

"Sherlock what the hell are you playing at! You decide to tell me like this, at my workplace!" Sherlock rolled his eyes as he understood just what had worked up the grey haired inspector.

"Gareth look-" The man interrupted Sherlock with a frustrated 'Greg' and didn't let him carry on.

"No mate, this is insane! You're gonna be a dad and this is how you tell me!" Sherlock pondered over the exclamation for a second not saying anything.

"Well? Where Is she?" The mysterious detective frowned as he turned to find out Penelope wasn't in her place behind him.

Where had she gotten to?

"Penelope!" He called over his shoulder and waited.

Meanwhile Penelope had typed in the code for a chocolate bar on the vending machine. Having skipped breakfast and getting no sleep, the saying 'treat your body like a temple' was becoming more and more appealing to her.

For a second she swore she could feel the lingering stares of some of the officers in the place as she bent over to get her snickers. But soon brushed them off after hearing Sherlocks voice calling her name.

Funny she didn't even remember wandering off and now she felt like a dog running back to her owner.

When she did manage to work her way through the workplace by following the top of that unruly head of curls, her first response was to frown at the sound of a woman's voice not to far away.

"So typical of you freak, make up an imaginary woman carrying your baby to get into the yard. Lestrade's receptionist should know better than to let you up without a guardian." Then unattractive cackling was heard after the obvious mockery and Penelope instantly found herself annoyed.

 _Who the hell do they think they are mocking Sherlock's brilliance?_

"Degrading yourself again Donovan didn't think it was possible, but then again about 50 other things were made possible the moment I met you," Sherlock's sneer in response informs Penny how much he hated this character. "How could I make it into this place if I had someone imaginary?" His comment made the answer sound obvious.

 _That's because it was._

"Alright you two that's-" Lestrade didn't finish that comment because at that moment Penelope finally approached them and was confronted with the scene. Lestrade froze, Anderson practically salivated, Donovan narrowed her eyes and Sherlock turned.

"Did you really need that galaxy bar?" He questioned when he saw it in her hand open and with a bite taken out of it.

Penelope shrugged "I'm pregnant." She offers in explanation and Sherlock really should have seen the comment coming, he sighed at her grin. Lestrade couldn't believe it was real, Anderson spluttered whilst Donavon glared openly at Sherlock.

"Oh my. You must be the woman then, Penelope was it?" The woman nodded and shook the inspectors eager hand.

"So you're Lestrade?" She stated and licked her thumb after the hands broke. Drawing every male watching their exchange to the gesture.

"Greg's fine." Penelope hummed in acknowledgment and told Anderson to close his mouth or he'd catch flies. The man huffed as he did it and this Donovan woman couldn't keep back her scoff.

"Oh please she doesn't even look pregnant!" Penelope really was starting to dislike her.

"That's cause she's not." Sherlocks explanation struck Greg and the others.

"What!?" Sherlock then went on to explain the little performance they'd put on to see him and Lestrade was not happy by the end of it.

"For God sake! I'm working, you've just wasted my time on some bogus story so you could come and talk to me!" Penelope could tell the man was about to blow a fuse and frankly hated the satisfied look on both the minor peoples faces. Penelope put a warm hand on Lestrade's forearm stopping the man for a second.

"Don't be mad at him, he was only showing off. I got him riled up about him not being cool enough to work with an actual detective inspector at _the_ Scotland Yard and he just wanted to prove me wrong." Her voice lowered just a bit as she said the next part. "I've kind of always had a thing for lawful figures." The subconscious decision to softly stroke the worn material of his blazer didn't miss Sherlock's eyeful deduction.

"You ever been to a police station before?" Lestrade found her big brown eyes to be slightly peaceful, those curious things trained on him as he spoke. Reaping in his words with intrigue.

"Never, it's even better in real life." Donovan scoffed but Anderson practically swooned when Penelope stared to talk about meeting forensics. Lestrade had given Penny a nice look over and liked immediately what he saw, she was curvy yes and definitely had a great rack.

Sherlock cleared his throat.

"Anyway, I didn't come here to chit chat. Lestrade do you have anything for me? Murder, robbery, something your team of idiots can't handle?" Anderson scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"We don't have anything for the likes of you, Holmes." the way he bit out Sherlocks name made Penelope glare at him, he'd said it like it was a disease.

"Oh do shut up Anderson!" The detective boomed and everything in the office turned deadly quiet.

"He's an arrogant ass hole, she's a bitch and I don't like them." Penelope slyly signed, it was seen by all of the group but only one person understood it.

"Exactly." Donovan folded her arms across her chest as Sherlock agreed to what Penelope signed.

"What was that? What did you say?" Penelope smiled at the woman.

"I said Mr Lestrade is an absolute dream and it's a pity he's married." The sultry smile she gave Lestrade made Sherlock want to snatch her away from him.

Why was he having such urges?

"Luckily for you Sherlock something came in yesterday that I haven't got my head around." Sherlock could have swooned in that moment.

It helped a lot that Lestrade's attentions weren't on Penelope anymore.

"Boss you can't be-" Lestrade cut the lady officer off with a finger.

"That's enough from you Donovan." Penelope held back at a grin. "Now get back to work, both of you!" Both stormed off to God knows where. Probably to have an angry shag in a supply closet somewhere.

"You know how to sign?"Greg inquired as they walked into his office.

"Yes, without my hearing aids I'm as deaf as... Well a deaf person." Lestrade chuckled and lounged in his chair. Penelope took a seat on the corner of his desk. While Sherlock planted himself down on the chair next to her opposite Lestrade and put his fingers beneath his chin.

"What's the case?"

"About 2 days ago the body of a Martha Daniels was found in a sewer in Cambridge by a worker, much to his misfortune-" Penelope's phone went off in her pocket momentarily disturbing the man.

"Sorry." She rushed out of the office and answered the call.

Leaving Sherlock to listen to Lestrades ramblings. Only moments after he had told the man with black curls, Sherlock had solved the bloody thing.

"It was obvious." Greg widened his eyes.

"How the hell was it obvious!"

"Because I said so." The inspector huffed and wrote a note to speak to the step father later on in the evening. After he'd done the task his attention turned to the girl outside the glass panes of his office who currently spoke into the phone.

"She's bloody gorgeous Sherlock," It took the detective a second to realise he had referred to Penelope, with a glance toward her he couldn't help but agree with George or whatever his name was.

She was indeed adequately above average.

His face remained neutral. "If that's your opinion." the bored tone of his voice was a terrible representation of the truth.

"Where'd you find her mate?" Sherlock frowned.

"I didn't 'find' her Lestrade, she's Penelope Sharpe the owner of the flat 221C in our building." Greg's eyebrows raised.

"The one Moriarty snuck into! Are you mad he has a key that's hardly safe Sherlock!" Said man sighed tiredly.

"Do you think I'm an idiot?" The detective challenged. "She changed the locks when she moved in." The tension in Greg's shoulders relaxed slightly and he smiled a bit.

"You must _really_ like her if your willing to bring her all the way to the yard with you." It was Sherlocks turn to raise a brow at Lestrade's implications.

"Penelope... Is a little less annoying than everybody else. Apart from John." He stated easily not liking the way Lestrade kept looking at him, grinning. As if to say 'we all know what's going on here Sherlock'.

"You think I fancy her." The comment was followed by a gruff yeah and Sherlock rolled his eyes. Refusing to answer.

"Well, do you?"

"I-" Penelope opened the door softly and smiled at both men. Easily cutting Sherlock off.

Thank the gods.

"Sorry about that, once Nanny starts talking about her bedroom activities it's hard to get her to stop." The woman smiled at both mens clear discomfort and then slipped a chocolate bar into Sherlocks hands.

"What's this?" He held the offending item with disdain.

"Food, if I have to eat so do you." It surprised Lestrade a lot when Sherlock, _the_ Sherlock Holmes didn't object to the order and instead put the thing In his pocket saying he'd eat it later.

For some reason Penelope affected Sherlock more than he was letting on.

"So did you get that thing you wanted?" Sherlock sighed heavily.

"Yes, though it was rather disappointing. Now we're back to square one, boredom." Penelope shook her head but then her eyes lighted up as she remembered something.

"Maybe we're not," Sherlock couldn't help but frown as he saw the cogs turning in those big brown orbs. "Come on." She didn't even wait just straight up got off the desk again and left.

Leaving Sherlock and Lestrade to ponder.

The sound of a smack on the glass shocked both of the men, who jumped. Penelope giggled knowingly.

"Bye Greg!" He received a cute kiss she blew and pretended to catch it.

Sherlock cringed at the scene. Ugh.

He got up and said farewell to the detective inspector before following the shorter girl out of the station.

 **Hiii It's Prettylittlehead22 here (duh) I'd just like to thank all of the people who've followed the story it means a lot. Still dying to hear your opinions please, I'd love to read them. This was I think the last chapter I already had written up so it might take longer to update next time but next one should be up by Friday, or sooner I don't know. xx**


	6. Velvet suits you

Both Sherlock and Penelope were in the back of a different taxi, the detective scanned the streets and the signs for clues as to where they could be heading. While Penelope shut her eyes and tried to get rid of the building excitement in her stomach.

She hadn't told Sherlock of the real reason why they were going to, where they were going.

Partly because she needed to focus.

In the midst of this... Focusing however, she managed to remember something.

"Stop the taxi!" Sherlock snapped back into reality sharply when the girl beside him demanded the taxi be stopped.

"Penelope?" He questioned snapping into his deducing skills, to see if he could analyse what was wrong.

 _Full blown pupils_

 _Heavy breathing_

 _Panicked expression_

"What's wrong?" his enquiry furthers as she refuses to answer.

"Back to Baker Street, quickly! I need something!" Penelope was acting rather strange, but her request was acknowledged and performed by the cabbie; much against Sherlocks wishes.

The moment the car pulled up to Baker Street Penelope jumped out immediately, leaving Sherlock to pay for the fair.

His exasperation with the girl was growing thicker by the second. He thanked the man and slipped through the front door just in time to have a head pop through Mrs Hudson's door.

"Was that Penelope?" The old lady asks slightly bewildered.

"Yes, she seems to be in a severe state of panic. For what reason I have no idea."

A loud noise drew Sherlock attentions to down the hall from where it had obviously come from Penelope's flat.

"Go on then love, she might be hurting herself down there!" Sherlock would have usually denied such a request, justifying his refusal as Penelope being able to take care of herself.

But right now he felt inclined and if he admitted it, curious. Something was happening to his Penelope and he didn't know what.

He followed his instincts and went to the girls flat to demand what was going on. When he made it to the living room where he could hear her rummaging, what he saw was not what he had expected to see.

The girl had removed her top, now shirtless he was face to face with a lacy blue bra and plenty of boob.

He should really turn around.

Penelope looks up at him and frowns.

Sherlock meets her eyes yet doesn't utter a single word, it's almost painful the intense heat behind the stare. It carries on until Penelope shrugs and mutters a quick 'why not?' under her breath.

Sherlock's intrigue causes him to immediately perk up.

"Why not what?" Brown eyes meet oceans once more as the girl looks up.

"You can dress up too if you'd like." Sherlock blinks dumbfounded as Penelope gives him a grin that makes his stomach twist slightly.

"W-why would I want to do that?"

"Because it's fun silly and where we're going you'll need to be inconspicuous, which I'm afraid my dear detective-" She tugs on one of his shirts buttons as she finishes her sentence. "You are simply not."

He watches her hand fall from his shirt and can't help but revisit the earlier movement of her thumb gently stroking his cheek. A warm feeling protrudes his belly and he resists the urge to jolt when Penelope takes his hand and shows him into the living room. Quickly she ushers him to sit down, taking his coat off his shoulders and draping it on the back of the sofa when he let's her. Finally when he does sit- in the armchair which is far too comfortable- she tells him to stay put while she sorts out the outfits.

 **'It's ok to be afraid Sherlock.'** The sickly figure of Jim Moriarty croons in his ear as he sits there helpless. He knows it's foolish to be afraid of the man, knows that the voice is just his imagination playing tricks on him. The mastermind was not really here.

 **'She was afraid, the woman.'** This imposter laughs and the sound echoes through the seemingly endless abyss playing with Sherlock's every wakening fear. **'Look what happened to her'.**

'No I saved her, she's safe.' His reaction seems to only spur his rendition of Moriarty on, as if the struggling against his sanity pleases the thing beyond belief.

 **'Oh Sherly...'** That man hovers close, so close that Sherlock can feel the sickening warm heat on his neck. Then the man is sneering. **'You killed her!'**

The detective seems to be having some form of nightmare when Penelope finally returns into the room after 3 hours. She admits it did take a long while to get ready and find stuff for Sherlock to wear but she was back now and seeing Sherlock in such a relaxed state was cute at first but then he started stirring. Which was unsettling to say the least.

"No." He mumbles lowly under his breath making Penelope lower what she carried in onto the sofa next to them, his breathing quickens and just as she's about to tap him he stirs harshly enough to wake himself from his horror.

His pupils are blown wide as she looks down on him, chest rising and falling in seconds and Penelope feels the immediate need to comfort him.

"Hey it's ok, you're in my flat." The detective glares at her for a moment trying to piece it together but when he sees her face recognition as to what has happened strikes him.

He takes in the world through his deductions for a second to gain some form of control.

The sun has gone down from when he last saw it, the rooms bathed in the streetlamp light from outside. Penelope hasn't turned on the light, judging from the looks of things it's approximately 8 something pm. Meaning she's been gone for a couple hours and...

"Umm, Sherlock?" Soft thumbs rub his cheek gently. "You're ok now, it's ok?" Apples invaded his senses as she pulls back to stand straight still watching over him.

"I know," Roughly Sherlock wipes his face all the while looking at the funny girl. His attentions focus almost immediately when he takes in what she's wearing.

A lace black bodysuit heightens her curvy body figure, it's long sleeves that cover the smooth skin beneath contrasts to the legless bottom which show off her seemingly endless limbs.

She's got cat eyes on which silhouette the brown pupil and her red lipstick. Whilst her hair is in a nice up do, stray curls falling into her eyes here and there effortlessly. Suddenly he can't seem to formulate any words to say.

Almost immediately she notices this.

A grin. "You like?" Her twirl is teasing and although he knows this he can't help but gulp.

Should he nod his head?

Say yes or no, maybe?

"I-it's nice, you look um nice?" She nods gratefully. Then gets this look in her eyes which means she's remembered something. She grabs a piece of clothing from the couch and hands it to him.

"Your costume sir." As he takes it in he realises that she's still glancing at him with an air of worry, stupid night terrors. Instead of addressing the shaking hands he takes the clothes with, the detective silently watches Penelope as she makes no move to leave or turn around in the slightest. For a second both stand absolutely still just observing the other slightly.

It's not an awkward or even uncomfortable stare just one of testing or experimentation he should say.

He clears his throat while staring at her own, "Turn around then." His baritone almost scares her as it breaks the silence immediately catching her attention. Easily however Penelope disguises her jump as she turns around with a muttered 'right' passed over her shoulder.

Sherlock can't help but let his eyes wander, when he slides his blazer down the length of his arms he curses inwardly at his futile attempt to concentrate on anything but the relaxed breaths Penelope is taking. The shirt is next to go and he realises just how close to naked he's becoming in a matter of seconds and she didn't even have to flirt with him or bat her lashes to accomplish such a thing. Simply the promise of the unknown was enough for him to trust her.

He just didn't know why on earth that was.

When at last he's down to nothing but his boxers he takes a moment to assess the clothes he's been given, it's definitely something he could pull off. The white dress shirt which he tucks into the black trousers is finished off perfectly with the black velvet jacket. Momentarily it disturbs him to know how well the suit fits him and why Penelope even has a mans suit in her possession.

He won't bring it up for now.

"So," She turns to face him again. "How do I look?" Penelope smiles along with his wide closed lipped grin and nods her head approvingly.

"It's good velvet suits you, however it's not quite finished yet." To further prove her point the puzzling girl bounced over to a box in the corner of the room and pulled out three items.

A smaller box.

A bigger box.

Then a bowtie!

She placed all items on the armchair he'd once sat in and started with the bowtie.

"May I?" Sherlock sighs with a roll of his eyes, despite the rudeness of his actions she could only laugh at them. "Bowties are cool." After the thing is clasped around his neck snugly she moves on to the smaller box and pulls out cufflinks. They're a golden circle resembling a shield of sorts in it's centre were small spirals of silver, obviously they must've been expensive.

"They're real gold." He deduced and he couldn't help but notice the small tilt of her lips as she hummed softly not removing her concentration from his arms.

At last it had come to unveil the last item, in barely concealed excitement she opened the box lid to reveal what hid beneath. Inside lay two masquerade ball masks, both highlighted the other in a significant way yet weren't the same. The one intended for him was a black half faced one, it's decoration had one of the eyes painted in a metallic silver which stopped just above the right cheekbone. The other side only had the decoration at the top and the rest was gone to be replaced with his face. The thing was stunning truly as was her own which kept a simple structure with silver jewels here and there.

"After you." Penny giggled and took her own giving it to him to place on her, he blinked but accepted. As he steps in closer to tie it up the smell of her hair bombards him. The apple scent is stronger now so much that he can almost taste it.

So she's washed it.

"Umm Sherlock?" Harsh blink back into reality.

"Yes."

"Pretty sure you can let go of my shoulders now." _Right you idiot_ his conscience belittles him and he must do what it says because even though he may not want to Penelope is too intriguing to freak out. He apologises softly and lets Penelope do up his mask. When both are ready they gaze at the other.

 _This is becoming a habit_. Penelope thinks to herself yet does nothing to stop their actions.

This was going to be one heck of a night.

* * *

.

 **The link is for the masks, I know my description was vague I apologise I had no idea how to describe them. I thought the idea was cute however to have a short moment between Sherlock and Penelope showing the growing tension I guess. More John in the next chapter I swear, can't forget about our favourite hedgehog now can I. Hopefully the next chapter is longer too. xx btw I updated this chapter because I found various mistakes when I looked back at it.**


	7. Masquerade

**Authors note: I'm a bad person, sorry. :(**

"Let me get a picture." Mrs Hudson stood outside in the hallway with Penelope and Sherlock in her pink robe; Camera in hand along with a bright beaming smile.

"Where's John?" Asks the detective just as Mrs. H takes the photo, she tuts when she sees the result has blurred as a result of Sherlocks movement.

"He had a date remember." The old lady reminds him as she tries again to take a good pic. "Left somewhat after 7." Penelope blinks harshly at the flash of the camera and can't help but grow very uncomfortable at the suffocating level of emotion. She frankly needed to get out immediately.

"Terribly sorry Mrs. Hudson but we should be going as well, long night ahead of us." It takes a couple seconds to say goodbye, with a hug from Penelope and a hum from Sherlock both are out the door and rushing into a taxi.

Now they sit in the back, Sherlock with his hands steepled beneath his chin. He thought about an earlier moment that had taken place just before Penelope and he had left her flat. She'd joked about slicking his hair back. Now the comment urked him, did she not like his hair.

"Would have been better with your hair tamed." Came the girls tease almost as if she'd read his mind.

His eyes snapped open and he pouts at her, actually pouts!

"I'm only joking," In an act of reassurance her hand finds his nape as she fixes his collar; the action causing his involuntary shiver. "I love curly hair."

"Then why do you straighten yours?"  
She shrugs.

"Easier to tame that way, my hair like that I can handle, curly? Not so much." He shakes his head slightly as if disagreeing.

"Well it's lovely now." The way she smiles makes him feel pride beyond belief. He caused that.

"It took me a nearly an hour," a giggle that ends somber. "Yours is nicer."

All of a sudden the atmosphere has changed, he feels the need to fix it.

Adjusting the bow tie around his neck he starts talking. "Anyway, why are we heading to this masquerade gala hosted by the Royal Albert." Penny rolls her eyes.

"Of course you knew where we were heading!" She exclaims and in response the detective shrugs with a small gloating smile.

"It wasn't that hard to find out." Once again he asks why there headed to the place.

"Well, how do you feel about ballet." He suddenly took note of what she implied.

"It's a perfectly boring art form which people spend years perfecting and even longer suffering for. Especially in areas such as their feet, to be honest I don't see the appeal." Penelope cocked her head slightly, staring at him from beneath long lashes, Sherlock suddenly remembered a major detail in his deductions on Penelope.

She was a dancer.

"You're a ballerina." He groaned and Penny smiled her dazzling smile back at him.

"No, I dabbled in that 'art form' back when I was a child. My insufferable mother made me go, none of it was my choice. Anyway my friend Luna has been on that scene for quite a while and she told me about the gala a few weeks ago. The thing is Luna has recently been dating this absolute dickhead, the same week this gala thing is being hosted - that's today by the way - I just found it to be a coincidence that the same week she starts dating him things in the ballet world start to disappear." Her rash explanation was caught expertly by Sherlock, who enjoyed her quick speed as it allowed him to quickly absorb the information and filter the useless details.

He was about to interject Penelope about the gala events until she mentioned items disappearing; needless to say his interest had been peeked.

"What kind of things?" He asks in his detective voice, Penelope smiles a result of seeing the starting of that glimmer in his eye.

"First it was small things, props from performing concerts in the London theatre, tickets to shows on Broadway. However things have started getting a bit pricey. From diamonds used in performances to prize winning capezio's. I believe the Swan lake tiara that was designed especially for the show and has diamonds encrusted in the metal is next to seemingly vanish." Sherlock lifted a hand and Penelope instantly stopped her explaining.

His eyes darted around, as if he were searching for something. For a moment the young girl just stared expectantly until Sherlock motioned for her to rewind in sign language.

"The Swan Lake tiara, you want me to tell you more?" He nods. "Twenty four hour protection, state of the art security. Alarms set to go off without the correct code, a code that only two people within the entire Royal Albert theatre have. The manager and director. Three guards put on their posts, all switch round at two am and the remaining three stay until five thirty am when the manager and dancers show." Sherlock raises an eyebrow.

"What can I say, I have contacts in high places."

He wants to smile at this comment but doesn't allow himself to, his mind convincing him he only wanted too because it was she who had quoted the popular saying.

"Yes," he shrugs off her joke, ignoring the sigh that passes her lips. "So what's the case exactly?" The subject change is easily dismissed as Penelope looks down at her attire.

Which to be honest is flattering her body in the perfect way; more material for her mind palace room.

"The gala of course, we're going prove it's Luna's boyfriend stealing all that stuff while undercover. Since of course it would be too obvious for us to go without a disguise- Luna will recognise me and you, since your practically famous and she's definitely in love with me." Sherlock raised an eyebrow at the girls completely detached tone as she says a phrase which reeks of emotion.

She sounded just like Mycroft. Like himself.

"Right," The detective clears his throat. "So do you have an invite?"

"Yeah, about that." Both brown and ocean eyes meet.

She falls on the carpet on the steps outside the building they needed access to with a humiliating oomph! "Oh dear! I'm so terribly sorry." A young fit lad had stopped holding his dates arm to come to Penelope's 'rescue'. Penelope who was currently gasping exaggeratedly while clutching her chest realised their scene wasn't gaining that much attention and decided to kick it up a notch.

"I can't breathe! I think I've damaged my lungs, it was the awkward landing for Christ sakes!" The fit bloke, from earlier he's now fretting like an abandoned puppy, claiming it was all his fault asking for a doctor to check the pretty woman for injuries. In the midst of the commotion no one even saw the quick hands of a professional reach his pale hands into the mans back pocket stealing his invitation.

Nor did anyone care much for the hectic environment suddenly disappearing almost as soon as it had come, once Penelope coughed momentarily along with the line 'Oh whoops never mind just needed to burp' kindly followed by a faint exhale plus a wondering away from the crowd.

As soon as she parted from the people things returned back to normal...well almost.

"D'you get it?" The deaf girl asks, adrenaline from her scene of improvisation still fresh the curly haired man winds his arm through her own showing of the Gold lettering of the invite tucks inbetween his forefingers. In the background the fit bloke has begun enquiring about his invitation as his date rolls her eyes in distaste.

"Obviously," How sinfully addictive Sherlocks life was the brown eyed girl thinks.

"Well then Mr. Holmes. We've got a gala to crash." Both share a secret smile as they enter the doors. The grand space the Royal albert picked to hold the party in is definitely a sight to behold, the main floor is crowded of people dolled up to the nines in masquerade gowns and suits. The entire atmosphere radiates fun and class, Sherlock watches as Penelope's eyes dull at the sudden sight. Her throat constricts slightly and you can bet the detective sees it.

"Let's see if we can track down your friend eh?" On her nod both descend into the crowd, locating Luna isn't very difficult. She will always be after all one of the most beautiful in a room, even with a hundred others surrounding her she'd always overshadow the rest.

"Over there," Penelope discreetly lifted her finger toward the couple who laughed amongst a small group. The sight vaguely confusing Luna had never smiled so much before around so much men, usually the feeling unsettled her. "The blonde in the purple gown and green mask."

 _Beautiful._

 _Faking it._

 _Nervous._

Sherlock's deductions are rapid as he scans her, Penelope seems to be conflicted as she stares at the girl having such fun. So much enjoyment with the man who's ruining her life and she doesn't even know it.

"I assume that's the man interfering with the ballet things." Clever detective. "Thank you." His mumbled comment baffles the girl until she realises she said that thought out loud.

"Yes, now the question is how do we draw him into a confession." A spotlight hits a man in the crowd, his tuxedo radiates authority as well as the clinking he's doing on his glass of champagne so the conversation eventually dies down and everyone focuses on him.

"Ladies and gentlemen it gives me great pride to welcome you to the Royal Albert masquerade gala! Oo that was quite a mouthful." The audience chuckles respectfully all except the two people who aren't supposed to be there. "Anyway tonight as you know is being held in order to donate to our cause but also to campaign for the opening night of Swan lake which is this Friday. As some of you know we have been given the brilliant opportunity to use the tiara from previously shown performances in our very own-"

Penelope felt breath tickle her ear as Sherlock leans in."Sort of like family traditions, an heirloom of sorts maybe." She hummed in return and turned her attention back onto Luna. The man had wormed his arm around her waist and pulled her close in to his side.

 _Why do you care so much?_ The little voice in her head taunted. _You don't care about anything!_

"So although the conditions of this little arrangement are rather odd, I've been assured that all dancers on the silks are fully trained and capable to- well dance over our heads I guess!" More appropriate laughter before the spotlight is suddenly off the man and everyone's gone back to their activities.

Penelope sees the two return to their happiness until the thief whispers something in Luna's ear and begins to stalk off toward the stage. Wait a minute.

"Sherlock have you worked out where that tiara was being kept yet?"

"You've already explained it's at the Albert hall?" Penelope rolls her eyes.

"Yes I know I said that," She's lost sight of the boyfriends back. "But I thought it was obvious they couldn't afford to leave it there tonight. Come on think about it, if the tiara were there then why is-"

"-her boyfriend at this gala instead of infiltrating the hall right now! Clever, oh he's clever. Stupid still, but in a clever way." Bashfully the detective rakes his fingers through his hair as he figures it out, not missing the way Penelope fails to show any emotion but a cloud of focus.

"If I were a tiara I'd hide you..." The alabaster hand sweeps the room and only when he mirrors touching the top of the stage does his hand cease all movement. "In plain sight." The brown eyed girl understands immediately.

"You don't mean-"

"Oh yes."

"All the way up!?"

"Indeed."

"Well it don't matter now does it, no way is he reaching all the way up there, taking it off _the_ Ivana Louise's head and escaping out of here without anyone noticing!" Her reasoning could be sound if there wasn't multiple flaws to it, if she were talking to an idiot.

"He doesn't need to go up there, if she drops down here." The truth shocks Penelope into realisation.

"Explain, Now!"

 _"He's stupidly clever, I told you didn't I. When we entered you gave me the thought process I needed to figure him out. He comes as a guest invited as plus one to a beautiful date, straight away nobody questions his presence their. Just like us he's the perfect stranger. In a room full of faces covered the best one he used was his own. He got himself in and found her, the dancer he knew would wear it tonight."_

"What do you mean found her?"

 _"Well no dancer is the same, there's probably a lot back there tap, interpretive, but they trusted the special item to the girl who would dance high. Clearly whoever is protecting the thing thought it the most poetic way to hide an item worth stealing. What they didn't count on is the fact that it may just be worth a lot more, it may be worth killing for."_

"Sherlock tell me right now!" His oceans bore into her mediocre, no never endless orbs and he finds he can't lie to her.

 _"He laced her with something, muscle relaxant. When we came in I observed a woman almost out of sight behind a curtain, said something about stiff joints to a friend possibly, her accent was Italian no doubt this made her Ivana, well that and the outfit she's famous for... feathers. Anyway she was drugged with a muscle relaxant it takes a relatively long time to kick in but with the right dosage. Well, first your joints stiffen, as a reaction before loosening-"_

"Oh my god she's gonna go limp while up there, she'll fall making the tiara come down too. Normally people would just call the police or something but he's smart enough to think of that, he knows the people here are just posh knobs. So instead of heresy they'll be panic, people will go so crazy and when they do all he has to do is stride up with quick hands take it and leave in the sea of the faceless." Not once do they look away from each other as she whispers the final truth. "It would have been the perfect murder."

Almost like clockwork both detective and problem straighten up and throw each other into action.

"Alright then think, how long we got till the butterfly turns back into a caterpillar!" A single dark eyebrow raises. "Think!"

"Considering the side effects were showing over 15 minutes ago I'd say roughly 10 more minutes."

"Right then, that gives me 10 minutes to find a way up there and you 10 minutes to distract this dazzling crowd, up for the challenge Mr. Holmes?" Another tease, oh no you don't.

Whilst not uttering a word he straightens his bowtie and winks at her, needless to say the reaction he gets from her is exactly what he was looking for.

Right then.

 **10**

Penelope ran backstage behind a curtain without being noticed, there's a big dude there with an expensive suit on and a wire in his ear. Pft a security guard, good job he was doing letting thieves roll into party's. Still if she wanted to get up on the silks she was gonna have to go through him.

"I'm a dancer, here for the aerial silks." The hunk checked his clipboard with a shift in eye contact before returning his eyes on Penny.

"They've already gone on." His rude statement makes her want to slap him but she can't so she tries another tactic instead.

"Yes I know I'm late terribly sorry but-"

"Oh, Miss Evangeline!" His sudden realisation is met with bewilderment.

"What- I mean yes! That's me good old running late Evangeline!" Could she feel anymore grateful.

"Oh of course ma'am come right through." Doors really do open when you pretend to be someone your not she'll give Sherlock that. Speaking of the detective.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!" Oh god that was Sherlock's voice and why did he sound drunk? Forgetting Sherlocks dramatics she runs to get into position.

 **9**

Sherlock found the best way to get a room full of snobs attention, just like in Prison find the biggest guy there and pick a fight with him.

"What the hell do you think your doing!" The man who'd he chosen to piss off looks at him with utter disdain- probably because Sherlock's just spilt a good amount of champagne down his expensive tux. . "I was gonna drink that!"

He doesn't expect the guy to grab him by the collar but when he does Sherlock swears he can feel the life being sucked out of him.

"Let go of him George he's a drunkard!" _His wife? Wife? Lover? No too old._ Yeah, wife says to the man as she tugs on his sleeve. Our blue eyed detective considers the situation as a 'taking one for the team' sort of thing, that is until he looks up and sees that Ivana's actions have gotten sluggish, her positions are less precise and she's running out of time. Where was Penelope? He couldn't make her out amongst the dancers.

 **8**

She knew the time was ticking down, could practically see the clock above her head. But if she wanted to reach Ivana she figured she'd have to go all ape shit on those silks, considering there were several other dancers hanging she'd have to find a way to get past them without disturbing there art from and dragging all attention away from Sherlock. How on earth was she gonna-

Of course!

The balcony above Ivana would serve as a perfect platform, if she jumped from there using the empty silks nearby she could possibly drift to the performer alert her of the drug and convince her to lower herself down gently instead of the tumble she was bound to have. Hopefully the hall installed floor long silks for the night and not the half way ones, otherwise Penelope's plan could grow more complicated. Taking off the mask she got into position.

Lord save her, literally!

 **7**

What was wrong with her, every muscle in her body seemed to twitch and itch. With each position she could feel her execution of the moves grow less professional, slowly she grew weaker and weaker. Every breath became harder to do, but if she could not control herself then she was in serious danger, she needed to tell...

Her arms slip and it's a brush with death she didn't need to experience lucky she catches herself in time.

"Help!" Ivana yelped, struggling to maintain her hold; as if Penelope didn't have enough problems of her own.

Everything from that moment on was mania.

 **6**

Penelope got the attention of Ivana and convinced her to hold on as tightly as possible, all the while the focus had been drawn from Sherlock onto them.

 **5**

The brown eyed girl swung from the silks to alongside Ivana, or at least tried to it was hard to stop the swaying without jostling the performer. Sherlock watched on unable to do anything it was all up to his apple scented girl now.

 **4**

Finally the thing stopped close to the famous performer but not quite enough, her squeals of panic threw Penelope into overload. She had to save her but the only way she could was to jump onto her silks cause she couldn't get any closer.

"Ivana listen to me you have to wrap the silks around your ankle, you know in that position!"

"I can't move, please help me!" Umm think, come on just do something! her inner mind practically screamed.

"Penelope you only have a few minutes left!"

"Thanks for that!" She yelled in return to the detective down below.

 **3**

Her hand slipped again and she could feel her arms starting to loosen their grip. This was it.

"Oh no you don't!" Her eyes close and Penelope does the one thing she has too, jumps grips on to the material for dear life and wraps her legs around it. Just a metre below her Ivana screams something just as her hands let go! She's going to fall, dressed like an angel how ironic. The music playing was called fallen angel. Almost like it'd been planned. In impulse she imagines two hands gripping her arm, the one that had been closest to that mysterious girl. The one who wasn't supposed to be there but was going to help her. As if the gods themselves had whispered the prayer into her ears Ivana slits opens her eyes and realises that the woman did indeed catch her, hanging form the silks the angel her angle beams at her. Pearly whites almost blinding and the last thing Ivana remembers before giving in completely to the dizziness she felt.

 **2**

Penelope had done it, the smile she felt on her face was completely true, the first genuine act she'd performed in what felt like forever. Saving a lie brought on this entirely foreign feeling that was indescribable.

"Sherlock! I did it! hahaha I actually did it!"

"Yes you did." His smile was briefly shared, they still had business to attend to. "Luna where are you?" Understanding it was her the guy with the curly brown hair was talking about Luna steps forward with hesitance. Seeing Penelope up there had thrown her off completely but now she was safe she had only one thing to say.

"What the bloody hell is going on!?"

"I'm afraid my dear there's someone who hasn't been entirely honest with you." The blonde chuffs as she glares up at the ceiling.

"You think!" Her exclamation makes Sherlock roll his eyes which is a habit he really should quit.

"No not Penelope, him!" Gasps echoed around the room as he points out her boyfriend like they're in a theatre and this is a pantomime. Heaven give him strength.

"But Jack hasn't done anything wrong!" Luna's spluttered words apparently cause Penlope to react.

"Jack really Luna you went for a Jack."

"Oh I'm sorry didn't know I had to ask you for permission to date people with certain types of names!"

"For god sakes Luna open your eyes he's the guy who's been stealing all thise things from the world of ballet. Ever since you started hi dsating him.

"What?" Her hurt whisper kills Penelope in a way she didn't know possible.

"I'm sorry but it's true," Sherlock adds. "He also tried to murder Ivana Louise because tonight she had the privilege of caring for the swan lake tiara."

"Is this true Jack?" Uh duh Penelope wants to shout but the dizziness she feels from being suspended in the air and upside down holding up an entire person is catching up to her. The boyfriend doesn't respond, only tries to flee. His attempt is flawed as unexpectedly a feeble appearing woman bats his head in with her cane and shakes in delight when he drops to the whole audience cheers along with her delight as Sherlock works out who the woman is.

"You must be Ivana's trainer."

"Don't forget friend I'll be damned if I let this weasel of a man get away." In respect the detective smiles.

"This's great and all but can somebody please get us down from here! ugh!" Right then time to call Scotland yard.

"Masked boyfriends and a drugged dancer, sounds like the beginning of a bad joke." Lestrade, Penelope and Sherlock are outside the gala's building. Police cars are all around the scene as are an ambulance fire truck and reporter vans. A blanket was put around Penelope after the firemen got her down using one of those ladder thingy's-despite her best protests. She shouldn't complain she only had to hang there for 17 minutes until the backup showed.

"In a way it was." Sherlock's comment is said with just a hint of hate and Penelope couldn't figure out why until she saw Jack being hauled into a police car.

"At least he'll get what's coming to him." Almost like she heard the words Luna comes storming over, her bag now in hand. She's effortlessly pretty despite having a red face no doubt due from the anger she felt and left over mascara tracks beneath her eyes,

she's been crying.

"Hope your happy!" She stopped just a metre away from Penny who swore if looks could kill she'd be ten foot in the grave.

"Luna-"

"No, every time I have something good it's always you who spoils it. Whether it's with your moaning, whinging or begging. Why can't you just let me be happy for once."

"He was no good for you Luna, you were dating a wannabe murderer!" The blonde sighs at the comment; she knows it's true.

"Your right I'm sorry I guess I just-" A loud commotion headed their way stops the girls words short. Ivana Louise leads a hungry group of reporters right toward their little group and no one mutters a word until she stops straight in front of her savoir.

"You beautiful goddess," Penelope opens her mouth to reply but is stopped when two hands hold her cheeks and draw her into soft lips, with a sweep of tongue Penelope realises there are now a bunch of snaps of cameras going off and such a thing is going to get a lot of publicity. Luna looks away at the sight as if the very thing burns her. Sherlock records the data, she really does have an emotional attachment to Penelope and reminded him a lot of someone.

oh well.

Still it did come as a surprise and when the famous dancer backs away for air the shock is present on Penelope's features.

"Thank you for saving my life."

"Y-you're welcome." With that the dancer skidaddles away as if she were never there. Leaving Penelope dumbfounded, Lestrade speechless, Sherlock intrigued and Luna agitated.

"I see you don't care then." Penelope's supposed friend snaps, marching into the night.

"Luna don't go come on." Luna flips her off and continues onward. "Be careful at least!" An 'like you care!' was yelled in response and Penelope wiped her forehead in fatigue.

Greg clears his throat at the sudden silence. "Don't suppose you need a lift home?" Sherlock pounces on th subject before Penny can answer.

"I called John he'll be here any minute, goodnight detective inspector."

"Goodnight." Was huffed in return and Penelope got a nice warm hug before the grey haired man and his crew set off in their cars.

A few seconds after they'd gone Penelope remembered something.

"Didn't John have a date?"

 **Sorry for the delay in this chapter I know I'm terrible at updating. Hopefully this chapter will suffice and was good though, took me a while to get the ending result I'm not gonna lie. Did I promise more John? Yes. Did I deliver? No. Sorry I love the hedgehog I do so the next chapter has him in it a lot more, cross my heart and hope to die stick a needle in my eye and stuff. Also big thank you to Applejax XD, Ash Hound, Aya Ayame, Darlingk08, Eris0711, Happyritas, Mai13Rose, Mesi-miko, Moonwolf27, Omfgchey, RedMerter, Scarlett-warrior66, SerenityPax, Spnlove101, Squishy97, bbb671, brookewilliams, cellardoor0789, hannahizar, juliet95, leeyfjs, mixed array and finally slaneville0615 for all the follows and favourites. it means the world to me truly makes my day everytime I get a notification saying someone's followed. My update days will be Friday or Sunday now so should be a chapter up again on Sunday. xx**


	8. Murals and drunk nights

"Oi you two!" Penelope and Sherlock turned to the black ford on the road that had stopped directly in front of them. The sleek window rolled down and John Watsons head peeks through; he doesn't look happy. "Get in the car!" His tone held so much authority that neither of the two dared to argue.

Inside the vehicle Penny realised the woman driving must have been John's date, what was her name again?

"Jenny, I presume." Sherlock greets the woman, sliding in alongside an awkward feeling Penelope.

"Hi..." In no time the girl drove off the curb and followed Johns directions to baker street. It's quiet for a couple seconds before Sherlock opens his mouth to no doubt do some deducing.

"No!" John cuts him off with a quick snap, needless to say the detectives mouth abruptly shuts and he schools his features into a relax state as John does that cute mad thing where his nostrils flare slightly as he holds in his anger. "No more words from you Sherlock, I mean really drugged dancers, sketchy boyfriends! Do you have to cause mischief wherever you go. If you and Penelope needed a ride home you could've waited for a cab but no... let's interrupt John in the middle of something important!" Penelope intervenes.

"Sorry John, Sherlock was only at the event because of me. I'm the real reason we got into trouble." Penelope's doe eyes were reflected at John through the mirror those shimmering brown orbs became a sight he found himself unable to be angry with. So with a sigh he turned in his chair and addressed both the trouble makers.

"Look, both of you are just lucky you weren't seriously injured. Oh, and Jenny has a car and was willing to pick you up in the first place. Thank you by the way Jenny."

"It's ok." _I should speak up_ Penelope pushes past the awkward feel and introduces herself.

"I'm Penelope Sharpe and this is Sherlock Holmes, its lovely to meet you Jenny. Sorry about the intrusion."

"Nice to meet you both, Jenny Davis and there's no intrusion at all." The atmosphere relaxes enough for Penelope to even banter about the nights shenanigans.

"I swear I've never seen an older looking lady take down a dude twice her size, she earned my upright respect instantly." The comment was met with giggles and chuckles, even a smirk from Sherlock which made Penelope uncharacteristically happy.

"I would have thought your highlight of the night would've been the kiss." Sherlock's mumbled comment was caught by John who raised an eyebrow in surprise and asked her just what the detective was talking about.

"I may have snogged the woman I ended up saving." Jenny frowned at Johns exclamation of 'I missed that' tightening her hold on the steering wheel.

"Well John judging from your browser history i'd say you would've enjoyed that." Suddenly the brakes were stepped on harshly, for a minute Penelope hit Sherlock's chest at high speed as she was thrown to the side, surprisingly he wrapped his arms around her.

"Out! The lot of you!" No one moved. "Now!"

In a flurry of movement all three were out of the car and on the side walk of Baker street.

"Oh and John you can forget about that second date!" With a middle finger Jenny Davis drove of into the night leaving behind three very confused people.

"What a bitch, all because she can't handle a bit of lesbian po-" John cut Penny off with a hand gently over her mouth and pointed to the door.

"It's freezing, let's forget about it and go inside." Generally confused Penelope glanced to Sherlock for an answer to how weird things were becoming, he however had already shot off to the door opened it with the speed of lightning and disappeared from sight. John wasn't far behind and Penelope seemingly the only one questioning shit was about to follow; but she stopped with her hand on the door.

A chill had creeped up her spine, not just form the lack of warm clothing but she'd gotten he strange feeling that...

Her head harshly whipped around in an effort to catch a possible watcher. Nothing, no one. Possibly just paranoia taking over, when was the last time she'd taken a pill? Leading with the thought she entered the building and rubbed her cold shoulders as the warmth hit. _Funny, normally Mrs. Hudson would be snooping around, probably just tired tonight bless her soul._

Upon nearing her flat door, a certain detective came bounding down the stairs stopping only a few centimetres away from her. Doll eyes looked at sky blue ones.

He needed a lesson in personal space, _'not that you're complaining_ 'came that little voice from inside her head.

"May I help you?"

"I left my clothes in your place, I need them back." Oh. She flushed and quickly made to open the door. Going down the stairs she exclaimed Sherlock knew where they were and could go on right ahead, while he moved with purpose she flung her high heels off with a sleepy sigh. Making straight for her bedroom after to get the pills that lay in her dresser beneath a pair of naughty thongs and unattractive granny knickers. Penny popped two in her mouth dryly swallowed, she did it often enough to know how not to choke. Her body relaxed significantly after, she was calm taking off her mask and outfit, calm wiping of the make up from her eyes and lips, even calm putting on her bed top which bore the slogan **'Wake me and I punch you'** on the front.

Need food! Growled her stomach and deciding it was right Penelope in nothing but a top that stopped just below her hips and black knickers made her way to the kitchen (which coincidently could only be accessed through the living room)

When wandering in she noticed four things.

1- Sherlock was still in her flat.

2- He'd changed from the suit she'd borrowed him into his casual- well for Sherlock- shirt and slacks.

3-Everything he borrowed from her has been folded perfectly on the sofa.

3-He's staring at the mural on the wall.

He's not facing her so she has time to brace herself for the inevitable questions she knows are bound to come.

No reaction is given as she walks past him into the kitchen to get the snicker bars she knows are hiding behind the bread in the cupboard. Its only when she opens the wrapper and takes a massive mouthful that she hears a hum from the living room.

What did that mean?

In order to find out she retraces her steps and leans on the door frame simply watching him, she stayed silent because she knew he'd talk when he wanted.

"This is a mural, for a loved one?" It sounds like a question but she doesn't answer him she knows he already has an answer. "Your father I assume." She rolls her eyes.

"If your looking for a heart to heart, I'm way too sober to give you one." Her eyes watch the detective as she goes to stand alongside him, most men would have become extremely distracted with a woman half naked in their presence. No, not Sherlock he was the perfect epitome of gentleman. _Not even a straying glance_ she deadpanned thoughtfully. The thought of Sherlock responding to something slightly sexual made her snort unattractively.

The man with the curly hair turned to her in bewilderment. Her mood was far too relaxed for the level of emotion which the subject entitled.

He swept his gaze over her.

 _Dilated pupils._

 _No reaction to possibly painful memories._

 _Drugs then._

"What do you take?" Penelope is momentarily surprised, that is until her brain catches up and she smirks.

"Depends." He turns full on to her and she mirrors him. She wants an answer, he wants a distraction. Little do they know they both crave a little of the other thing; Sherlock steps closer, barely a rulers lengths away now and thinks nothing of it when he can feel her breath on his neck as she waits. "How do you want to feel?" The purred words cause him to stop and stare at her.

Brown clashes against blue as both hold their breaths, he leans in then catching he off guard and without even touching her he whispers the answer in her ear. "I don't." Penny shivers.

"You shouldn't." She muses and he can only roll his eyes while glaring at the ceiling. Penelope admired his pale neck, resisting the urge to bite it, taste it, mark it, him.

"John wont let me smoke, he didn't say anything about experiments." His explanation makes her smile, so much that she disappears from the room only to come back with a single pill. "Take it. You'll owe me though."

John and Mrs Hudson have no idea what exactly they're listening to, all they can hear are muffled voices but it seems whatever it is the pair of trouble makers downstairs are having fun.

"They sound drunk."

"Or high." John spluttered a shocked _'Mrs Hudson'_ who could only tut and shake her head.

"I've been around John, I survived the 60's just you remember that." The blonde cracked his neck with a satisfied groan and pressed his ear closer to the door.

Meanwhile...

His hands are buried in her hair and he pulls, she hisses and he nods in approval.

"Ok that is pretty tangled." The girl nods enthusiastically at the baritone statement.

"Told you." He laughs when she falls off the settee and onto the floor, like an actual deep laugh that makes Penelope eager for more.

"Ok, y-y-yours may be tangled but mine is tanglier!"

"Tha's not a word!" The apple scented girl exclaims.

"Course it is I should know, I'm the great detective in the funny hat." Penelope frowns and drains the glass of vodka she poured moments ago prior to initiating a hair challenge with the man.

"Who called you that?"

"The woman." Memory of Moriarty's taunt fill his mind and his vigorously shakes his head as if the action could conjure the devil out.

"A woman."

"No! **The** woman." At Penny's 'oh' he staggers off the couch and to the fire place, its not on or blazing but he feels suddenly hot. Feeling suddenly sweaty he sits by Penelope who insists she's 'not disabled' under her breath.

"Of course you're not, you're Penelope the pretty girl who lives underneath us." Penelope smiles at the complement it's probably one of the nicest things he had said to her. "At least that's what John says." So close.

"Well...he's not wrong." A comfortable silence falls over them and for a minute Penelope allows herself to just not think about anything. Remembering the chocolate bar she left on the coffee table she leaned over and grabbed it leaning in for a bite. Her plans were foiled when Sherlock brings his hand to cover her own dragging the chocolate bar to his lips before biting. Penelope's smile goes sour.

"Oh you are so gonna pay for that!" He wants to reply but has trouble doing so with a mouthful, she nudges him playfully at this which Sherlock sheepishly shrugs at. That's when she notices the stray piece of chocolate on the corner of those bow lips; she shouldn't do what she's thinking, its just its like an impulse is pulling her into his proximity closer, closer until...

Sherlock abruptly blinks as he feels the wet sensation of Penny's tongue on the corner of his mouth, his lips part slightly after swallowing when she pulls back. Both pairs of eyes meet, he's not shocked or repulsed he finds himself wanting to lean closer to her to possibly lick his way into her mouth, just to taste of course- a sort of experiment maybe?

3 centimetres apart and he could feel the heat emanating off her, god he could be consumed by all things Penelope in this moment and have absolutely no objections. He let his eyes slipped close leaning forward but to his surprise a weight hit his shoulder instead and looking down had him face to hair quite literally with Penelope who was now fast asleep on him.

 _Figures._

His mind tells him bed so with the grace of an elephant he stands, lifts the agile girl in his arms and carefully- or less clumsily- carries her to where he believes the bedroom is. He's so out of it that when he finally gets the door open he doesn't even take a look around just places her on one side of the bed while taking the other. He's asleep faster than you can say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

 **Well I'd say this was a major filler chapter sorry for the lack of an update, had a crazy week. Don't you think Penelope and Sherlock are adorable though, I know Sherlock's a bit of a lightweight so I thought Penelope could be one as well... or maybe she's pretending. ;). In all seriousness I love Mrs H and John sooo much. Hope you like their little interaction. Till the next update. xx**


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